Epic
by sincerelydear
Summary: Two people with the names Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley would have never believed they would actually share something more than insults and glares if you told them. Then again, is it real or is it not?
1. innocent games

**Author's Note**:

Hey guys, this is actually Oyasumiii from Epic. I changed my account because my other one was not working. If you have read Epic, then you will probably see the striking similarity to this particular fanfiction. This is because I never finished Epic and I wanted you guys to be able to read the end. I am starting this story over on this account because my other account just wasn't working for me half the time. Plus, my computer broke so I wasn't able to update. I am starting over and it will not be exactly alike word for word because I am revising it to make it sound better.

To those who have not read my former story Epic. I hope you enjoy the story!

**Disclaimer:**

The characters that have been featured in the Harry Potter series all belong to J.K. Rowling, along with any things mentioned from the books. The plot, however, belongs to me so please don't copy ;)!

* * *

Rose Weasley was doing her usual rounds around the school. The quiet sounds of her feet hitting the stone floors echoed inside the long hallways. She checked a couple of broom closets as well, seeing as they were a popular place for some couples to - well, for the lack of a better word – snog.

She was also looking for something other than disobeying couples. She was looking for her partner, the Head Boy. Who was, of course, _supposed _to be helping her. He, however was not, which was not that big of a surprise.

She turned around the corner, only to have her route be interrupted by a familiar figure.

If the platinum blonde hair did not give him away, the girl in his arms certainly did.

Scorpius Malfoy was a rather well-known playboy. It was rather annoying sometimes, but it was just all too much like him. Rose had frequently had to charm his room to be sound-proof, considering his loud experiences with girls at night. It wasn't really pleasant to hear. She absolutely hated sharing a dorm with him, but Headmistress McGonagall saw it as an "opportunity" to "get along" with each other.

She smirked at the sight of the boy and crossed her arms, impatiently. "Malfoy, unless you've forgotten, we have Head duties." She said curtly.

Rose was a very responsible Head girl and liked to actually do her job. Malfoy, on the other hand, liked to shag girls more than actually do his job.

He released the fifth year Slytherin, Miranda Wilcox, from his arms. Some people would never believe that the girl was actually fifteen, due to her well-formed body. She had big, brown, pretty eyes, but that was basically the only part of her face that was worth looking at. Her nose was slightly too large for her small face, and her lips were always contorted into an ugly frown. The fact that her lips were swollen from the makeout session did not help her looks in any way, either.

Miranda looked at Rose and shot her a very nasty glare before skipping back to her dorm. She had always fancied Scorpius and was into the situation before being interrupted. Rose rolled her eyes, _Girls these days. _

It was even more repulsive because Miranda had already known she was being used for her body, as did all the other one hundred or so girls that Malfoy had been with. Scorpius hated commitment. Relationships were like a plague he stayed away from. He'd much rather use girls as toys.

"What now, Weasley?" Scorpius asked, shooting an icy look at the Gryffindor before him.

Rose was getting accustomed to Scorpius's bad attitude, sharp tones, and hurtful insults. They were normal. They had been stuck together for a month or so by now, so they didn't sting as much as they used to.

"Rounds. Plus, we have a meeting with the Prefects soon. Did you forget again? You must have a smaller brain than I thought Malfoy."

Scorpius glared at her, but followed her anyway. They were to go to the Prefects' common room for a meeting, and Scorpius, no doubt, did not want to be late.

Rose looked over at him and noticed his untidy look. His tie was undone, revealing a few loose buttons on his shirt. His blonde hair was a mess, sticking up in random places. Plus, there was pink lip gloss on the side of his lip that he seemed to be trying to rub off.

"You're a mess." She said, frankly.

"Not as much as you usually are." He shot back.

This was very far from the truth. Even Scorpius Malfoy had to admit that Rose was pretty. He would never admit the fact, but he knew it deep inside. Perhaps he refused to say that the frizzy-haired Weasley with big-teeth had actually grown into a beautiful girl.

Rose's soft, auburn curls fell to the middle of her back. Her skin was fair and free of any unwanted blemishes. Her freckles had faded since she was young, and nobody noticed she still had a few. Her very best feature, however, was by far her ocean blue eyes, courtesy of her father.

She was also one of the only girls Scorpius Malfoy had never kissed, got on a date with, or shagged.

"Do you have no dignity? You're so ruthless. A monster could behave better than you." She snapped.

"At least I'm not an ugly prude."

"That has nothing to do with the argument at hand, Malfoy. Plus, I am not. You're such an arse and what I was trying to explain is that you're threatening your position as Head Boy by acting so reckless. Plus, my respect for you is dwindling to just about, nothing."

"Honestly, Weasley, I could care less. You should concentrate on your own business, especially your looks. Have you even cared to glance at a mirror recently? I'm tired of looking at your horrid face."

Rose flinched slightly, but didn't show any signs of vulnerability. Rose had always been sensitive about her appearance, due to teasing in her first two years of Hogwarts. It hurt, but she waved it off easily.

"At least I'm not a dumb, coldblooded, arrogant brute who can only think about Quidditch and shagging girls." She said, glaring at him with the most furious eyes she could muster.

Scorpius just looked away, not admitting defeat and ignored her until they reached the common room.

Rose whispered the password to the portrait "Licorice Wands." The portrait swung open, allowing them entrance to the room.

* * *

Considering the Heads' had to share a common room, Rose and Scorpius had no desire to get along. They walked down to their room together, though no polite words were shared between the two. Civilized words never crossed between the two, considering there absolute hatred for each other since their first year. It had gone from immature, childish hate to their absolute despising of one another.

Scorpius had always bothered Rose about her rather unpleasant looks in her first and second year. She had frizzy, fiery hair that couldn't be tamed. Her teeth were a bit large and her nose was never out of a book. In third year, her hair started to calm down and turn into a deep auburn and she grew into her teeth. Her figure had also started to appear. Her love of book never diminished however.

Rose had always annoyed Scorpius with the fact that Rose was always top of the class. Scorpius had always been second. Plus, his playboy attitude always gave Rose the ability to call him a player who had no heart and could never have a relationship with anyone other than himself.

They were always in a fight.

"I'm going to come in later tonight, so don't even bother keeping the lights on." Scorpius said quickly to the Head Girl.

She nodded quickly. She already knew where he would be going this late at night, and she didn't really want to know the details. She didn't bother asking any questions.

She walked inside the Head's dorm and sat on a nearby olive-green couch. It was by far the comfiest couch in that room. Scorpius and her would often fight about who was allowed to sit there.

She suddenly heard footsteps behind her and she raised an eyebrow. It couldn't be Scorpius, so who would it be?

Rose fingered her wand slightly, which was always conveniently with her. She turned around and saw a familiar figure at the door. She let out a relieved sigh and slightly moved her head to the side, looking at the boy suspiciously.

"Lorcan." She whispered. She didn't really want to see him at the moment.

"Rose, I'm so sorry. I was such an arse and I was an idiot." The boy said.

"I'm sorry, Lorcan. It's already over."

"Don't say that Rosie. I didn't mean too. It was a party and I was drunk. It was one time and I didn't want to. I would've rather had you there, instead." He said, looking frustrated with every single word.

She looked over at the familiar figure. His dirty-blond hair and pleading green eyes almost begged her. She felt her heart tug towards him. She had loved him for over a year. They were Hogwart's golden couple. They were known almost everywhere. She ended it when she heard he kissed Melinda Creevey at a Ravenclaw Quidditch victory party a few weeks ago.

Lorcan's eyes stared into hers. Blue and Green.

She was glad she was sitting down or her knees would've buckled. He could tell her defense was breaking as their eyes melted into one another. He bended down, wrapping his arms around her like they had millions of times before. They felt so familiar to Rose.

His lips touched hers softly. Lorcan deepened the kiss, although Rose was still so unsure. He never noticed her feelings, he never had before.

"Bloody hell." A voice said from the portrait.

The two broke apart as they looked over to see where the voice had come from. They recognized the person instantly.

"Malfoy, what are you doing here?" Rose asked, eyes widening.

"Well, I don't know. It's not like this is my common room too." He said, his voice thick with sarcasm.

"You said you were coming late." Rose said through clenched teeth. He really got on her nerves sometimes.

"It's a free country. I changed my mind. I do believe I am allowed to do that sometimes." He said, glaring at her.

Scorpius glanced at the two people in front of him. He looked from Rose's flushed face to Lorcan's triumphant green eyes. "I thought the golden couple of Hogwart's had a breakup." Scorpius said, raising an eyebrow.

"Leave, Malfoy." Lorcan said, stepping closer to the Slytherin.

"What's the matter, Scamander? Didn't I already beat you in a game a few days ago."

"Slytherins are all cheats, Malfoy."

"And I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart. Also, I never knew they were sore losers as well." Scorpius said, the famous smirk on his lips.

"Stop it. _Both _of you. You two have got to learn to shut up." Rose said, her face turning red with anger. "Lorcan, can you please leave?"

Lorcan obeyed and left the room. Once he left, Rose glared at Scorpius.

"What is wrong with you? I never barge in and interrupt you when you're with a whole bunch of girls." Rose said, obviously irritated by his behavior.

Scorpius stepped closer. "He was basically sucking your face off, Weasley. His dirty, Ravenclaw hands were up your shirt as well."

"Why does it even matter to you? You've probably done worse to half the girl population of Hogwarts. No, wait, probably even more than half. You've even shagged most of them, you arse." She said, bursting with even more fury than usual.

"That's a totally different situation."

"How?"

"I don't mean anything by it."

"That's why it's even worse. Girls fancy you and fall for you and you just end up treating them like dirt, but they end up still liking you! It's disgusting. In the end, you just use them again, but they keep obsessing over you!" Rose said. Her voice was littered with a mix of repulsion and hatred.

"Oh, come on, Weasley, Scamander is scum. You may be absolutely horrible to look at. Plus, you may be annoying and irritable, but you're most definitely not stupid."

"Don't flatter me or anything." Rose said, rolling her eyes in the process. "And Lorcan's not as bad as you. YOU are an arrogant, hypocritical jerk. Plus, you're so damn confusing. Why are you acting like a jealous boyfriend?"

Scorpius put on an absolute look of disgust. "Who's jealous, Weasley?"

"You tell me." Rose said, calming down slightly.

"I'm not jealous. I'm just trying to keep you from losing your precious virginity. I don't want to see you moping around the common room." He said curtly.

"I'm not even a virgin." Rose said, simply.

_She's NOT? _Scorpius didn't know why it bothered him slightly. It was probably because, well, Rose Weasley was probably the only girl in the whole population of Hogwarts that Scorpius could never have. Rose would be the only one he could never kiss, hold, or anything. It annoyed him to no end.

"I'm just saying. It's annoying, because it would hurt my pride if Scamander could get you, but I couldn't. You're probably the only girl that wouldn't be putty in my arms, Weasley." He said.

"Your mind sickens me."

"Well, your face sickens me."

Scorpius hadn't realized that while they were arguing, they had unconsciously walked closer towards each other. He looked down at her blue eyes, they were so close to his face. He could almost feel her eyelashes.

"I'll leave you alone, on one condition." He said, his smokey gray eyes full of mystery and mischief.

"What?"

"Go out with me, Weasley."

"Wait, What?" Rose said, her eyes widening.

"Not for real, of course. This is strictly business, after all. Pretend to be my girlfriend. It would be interesting to see what people would do. Plus, those easy girls are really starting to get boring. I want to show everyone that I can get Rose Weasley. It's something impossible, which could always come in handy."

Rose still stared at him like he was absolutely looney. "What good would this do to me?" Rose asked.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "I'll be civilized to you. Plus, going out with the most popular boy in school does have it's perks."

"Scorpius, you do realize my cousin and best friend is also very big competition for that title. Albus is just as popular as you are. Plus, not to sound conceited, but I don't do that bad in the social department."

This was true. Rose was basically crowned "Most Popular Girl at Hogwarts" since fifth year.

"Well, then, this gives you an excuse to stay away from Lorcan. You didn't seen too happy with his embrace earlier, Weasley."

Rose opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. How could Scorpius Malfoy know what she was feeling?

The truth is, however, that Scorpius did not know what Rose had felt. He simply guessed, and Scorpius had always been a very good guesser.

"You're an arse." Rose said.

"I'm taking that as a yes." The famous Scorpius Malfoy smirk appeared on his lips one more time.

Let the games begin. 


	2. acting skills

"Hold on, Malfoy." Rose said as Scorpius was turning around, heading towards his room. "I have a condition too."

Scorpius turned to face her once more. He looked at her, his eyebrows were slighty rising towards the girl. His curiosity level increased tremendously.

"What is it?"

Rose put on a devilish smirk. She had a look in her eye that made the suspense grow. She also paused for a few seconds, just too make it slightly more dramatic. She looked over at the boy. Scorpius had on a face that sort of looked like a two-year-old asking his mom for a new toy. She held in a small giggle.

"No playing around with other girls, whatsoever." She said, her evil smile growing as she spoke the words.

Scorpius's mouth opened, gaping at her. He looked horrified. No words could explain exactly how horrified he was. The words: _No Girls_ just didn't click in his head. They just wouldn't go into his brain. Ever since he went through puberty and gained his teenage hormones, girls were around. Scorpius Malfoy without multiple girls was like Rose Weasley getting a detention. It just didn't work.

Scorpius's cold, grey eyes suddenly had a pleading look in them. "Weasley, come on."

Rose was a stubborn girl. She had to prove a point. Just giving in was something unheard of, completely against her usual character. "Fine then, deal's off."

Scorpius seemed to be arguing with himself. It was actually quite amusing, though Rose didn't want to say that out loud.

After a few minutes, Scorpius began to speak. "Fine, I'll agree, if I can have one more rule."

Rose cocked her head to the side, wondering what the rule could possibly be. "Depends on what it is."

"Since I'll be deprived of other girls, I'm allowed to kiss you." He said, his eyes turning slightly darker. He gained back his smug, signature, Malfoy smirk and stared down at the girl.

Rose's eyes widened as she thought of the horrid thought. It was absolutely revolting. Scorpius Malfoy kissing _her? _

She was getting slightly pink from frustration when she suddenly saw how close he had gotten to her face. She widened her eyes at the sight. His eyelashes were a few shades darker than his hair, giving them a more mysterious look. His gray eyes had small tints of blue, they looked almost… _pretty. _She stared at him, unable to look away.

Scorpius slowly got even nearer to her face. His lips met hers softly until he pulled away. It was not as horrible as either of them thought it would be. It was just a kiss, anyways. She was just a bit repulsed about the fact that she had allowed her worst enemy to kiss her. It was disgusting. His lips had been soft and the kiss was generally okay. She just deeply wished that the owner of the lips was not who she knew it was.

"There, I do believe the agreement is settled." He whispered, still pretty close to her face. His breath tickled her nose as he said the words.

Rose finally looked away and shoved him away from her.

He smirked once again. _God, I wish he stopped doing that._ Rose was never a fan of his smirk. He looked back once, before disappearing into his own room. "Good night, _Love._"

Rose twitched slightly at the word. She didn't know whether bang on his door and tell him she wanted out of the agreement, or if she should run towards the toilet and throw up because she was actually Scorpius Malfoy's girlfriend. Even though it was fake, it was just as equally nauseating.

She was still, whatever the circumstance, not one to back down.

* * *

Rose had woken up an hour before and was sitting on the olive-green couch in the common room. The couch was not only the most comfy, but also had a convenient spot next to the fireplace. Rose was always a fan of fire. It's crackling flames and it's irresistible warmth always dragged her towards it.

She was still in her nightdress and was slightly falling asleep while she was reading her book, _The Magical World in its Darkest_. It was a fascinating book, but Rose Weasley was never a good morning person. She loved books. That also contributed to the fact that she was top of every single class, but that was not the reason she loved them. They just always comforted her and helped her escape into a different world all together.

"Good morning, _Love._"

Rose turned around to see Scorpius walk towards her. Rose groaned and put her head slightly back onto one of the couch's cushions. She did not want to be reminded of their previous deal. She also didn't want to be reminded that she would actually have to be civil to the _monster_ that stood about a meter away from her.

"May I ask why you seem to have the urge to but the word "love" with everything you say to me?" Rose asked. The word was getting on her nerves.

"Considering we're a couple now, I just thought that I shouldn't call you Weasley. I didn't necessarily want to call you Rose. It still sounds rather sickening on my tongue." Scorpius suddenly tilted his head to the side and looked at her, as if he was thinking about something deeply. "You know, you shouldn't call me Malfoy either, love."

This was true. She still had to fight back a gag in the back of her throat. The thought of her actually having to call him something other than Malfoy was rather appalling.

Rose gulped. This was going to be a rather difficult process for her. She didn't want to do any pet names, so she decided to just call him by his name.

"Sco-" Rose started. She tried to continue, but it wasn't working out for her. She crinkled her nose in frustration and looked towards the boy next to her. "I don't think I can do this. It's sound so, wrong."

"Come on, love, it's just a name." He said, rolling his eyes.

Rose replied to his comment with a Rose Weasley death glare special. Those glares could be rather prize-winning. It seemed to come so easy to him, calling her something so "nice". It was probably from tons of practice. Calling all his former girlfriends by separate names was probably difficult. Just thinking of pet names for all of them was probably the simplest solution.

Rose sighed with defeat. "Scorpius." She said softly. It sounded so foreign to her tongue. It was rather interesting. It was as if she were calling a completely separate person from the Malfoy she was used to.

She never realized exactly how intricate his first name was. It was actually her favorite constellation, though she would never admit it. Though the name had been the topic of many laughs in first year, it was an elegant name in a strange way. It tasted sweet on the tongue.

Scorpius looked up at the sound of his first name. Rose was avoiding his stare. It felt strange to finally hear his first name from Rose. It was almost, nice, even. He wanted to hear it more often, though he was more familiar with the usual "Malfoy", or even his second names, such as: arse, bastard, jerk.

He walked closer to Rose and bent his head slightly and whispered in her ear. "Good work, love." He pressed his lips lightly onto her forehead. If someone else had seen them, they would probably believe that they were a genuine couple. They looked quite alright together. On the inside, there was a different story. Rose was feeling rather nauseous. She felt her last meal coming up, due to her complete and utter disgust.

Once he pulled away from her, she made a immature face to show her displeasure. Scorpius saw this and chuckled. It actually looked extremely amusing.

"We have to go down to breakfast together."

Rose glared, but in the end, she nodded with agreement. "Fine, just don't expect me to hold your hand or anything."

Scorpius had a mischievous look on his face and she realized what he was doing. He slid an arm across her shoulders, pulling her even closer towards him. _This is even worse! _ Rose glared daggers at the boy next to her. Scorpius could practically feel the furious look. He ignored them, though it was difficult to do so.

Rose wouldn't admit this, but Scorpius's hand was surprisingly warm. It made her feel almost protected. When you originally saw Scorpius's pale skin, you might imagine him cold (just like his personality), but he was a surprisingly warm person.

"Don't you dare do anything to give away are agreement." Scorpius said quietly.

"I won't. You don't do anything either." She said.

He nodded as they made their way into the Great Hall. They could already see numerous pairs of eyes glance towards their direction. A few nudged the people who sat next to them, and the chain went on and on until most of the lunchroom had already seen them. A soft wave of whispers carried themselves across the lunchroom. _Do they think we have no eyes?_ Rose thought.

Before they parted for their different tables, Scorpius gave her a small kiss on the cheek. Rose inwardly cursed to herself. She walked towards the Gryffindor table, only to be greeted by the gaping mouths of most of her numerous relatives.

They all seemed to not know any words to say. The first to speak, however, was a boy with fiery red hair. His brown eyes looked up at Rose, furious and surprised.

"Are you serious, Rose? Dad'll kill you." The boy said.

"Hugo, mind your own business." Rose said, stealing an apple from his plate.

The next to speak, was her cousin. He looked remarkably like her uncle with the untamable dark hair and green eyes. "Rosie, I don't know what to say." Albus said, his eyes filled with emotions that were unknown.

"What do you mean, Al?" She said.

"I'm hurt. You didn't think to tell me, your favorite cousin?" Albus said, obviously joking around.

"Hey. I thought I was your favorite cousin." A chorus of different relatives said. They still had looks of shock on their faces.

Some of her family members, however, just looked at her with eyes of disapproval.

Albus suddenly bent down to whisper to Rose. "Don't worry, about them. They'll come around. I, personally think you have strange taste, but I don't exactly mind."

Rose managed to smile a weak smile at her cousin. She, however, did not really want to deal with her whole family at once at the time. She grumbled under her breath that she wasn't hungry and left the room. She earned a curious look from her "boyfriend" from across the hall.

She didn't want to show off her amazing acting skills at that moment, not that she had any anyway.

She left the hall, heading towards her sanctuary, the library. She didn't know she was followed until she heard the footsteps on the ground. She turned around to see one person she did not want to deal with at that certain moment.

"I can't believe you left me for Malfoy of all people." Lorcan said, his green eyes piercing at Rose.

"Just leave me alone, Lorcan. It's none of your business."

"Come on, Rosie, you don't even like him. You're too good for him anyways."

That just earned him another absolutely deadly glare from Rose.

"How would you know? You don't know anything about me or him. You never cared."

She continued to glare at the boy in front of her and turned away from him. It was true, she didn't like him. After all, you can't just stop hating someone after despising them for almost seven years of your life. The thing was, she wasn't better than Malfoy. Sure, he was an arse, but he was almost as smart as Rose. He was also Head Boy and Slytherin Quidditch Captain.

She shot him one last nasty look before stomping away towards the library one more time. That's when she suddenly felt a tug at her wrist. Lorcan was now annoying her a bit too much. She turned around and swiftly hit the person on the head.

"Ow, love, that hurt. Is that any way to treat your boyfriend?" Scorpius said, rubbing his head. "But honestly, that was a good hit."

"Sorry, I thought you were Lorcan."

"Don't confuse me with that scum."

Rose looked up at him, wondering if he had actually heard her conversation with Lorcan.

Scorpius started to walk away from her until he turned around and smirked (once again!). "Thanks for defending me by the way." He said, raising his eyebrows. His smug expression was irritating.

She just glared at him, "I don't know what you're talking about." She didn't exactly want to admit that she might've just defended him, even if she did.

"Glares speak louder than words. You do have a nasty way with words, too, however." He said.

Rose's cheeks flushed a shade of pink and her ears started to slightly turn red. _Thanks for giving me this horrible Weasley trait, dad._ Rose thought.

She didn't even realize that Scorpius had walked closer towards the girl. She suddenly felt a pair of lips on her forehead. This made her face turn redder, though she didn't know why. She didn't usually blush for anyone, might as well someone as horrible as Scorpius Malfoy.

"You look cute when you blush, love." He whispered into her ear. His words tickled her ear while his minty breath wafted slowly into her nose. Her eyes widened with embarrassment.

"I wasn't blushing, Malfoy." She said, not daring to look up at the boy and reveal her red cheeks. She did not want to blush for such a person.

"It's Scorpius, love, Scorpius." He said as he started to walk away. She had the feeling that he was expecting her to follow him. She did, catching up to him easily. If it was a date, she might as well play along with it.

It was just pretend, wasn't it?

* * *

**Author**: How do you guys like it? Reviews are welcome! Hope you guys enjoyed it so far!


	3. speechless

Rose felt like she was turning mental. Of course it was pretend. It's not like it could ever possibly be real. It was absolutely preposterous to even think that maybe, just maybe, it was even the slightest bit real. Rose didn't like Scorpius, Scorpius didn't like Rose. They were both using each other. It was as simple as that. Scorpius was just being civil towards her because he had a reputation to keep up. They both had their own selfish reasons for doing this. It was only for self-gain.

They continued walking along the Hogsmeade streets when Rose suddenly stopped. She looked over at the boy next to her. "Malfoy." She said, only loud enough so he could hear. He turned around to be met by curious blue eyes and a confused expression. Rose was curious to know where they were going and where in the bloody world Scorpius was taking her. She knew they were in Hogsmeade, due to the fact that all the familiar stores surrounded them, but she didn't know which store he was taking her into and if he was taking her to a store at all. Scorpius hadn't exactly given her much details, at _all. _

"I thought we agreed on our names, love." He said smoothly, his signature smirk still evident on his face. He was obviously trying to torture her as much as possible with his smirk, along with the fact that he was continuously ignoring her question. It was quite amusing to the Slytherin boy to see her scowl at him. Rose hated his smirk, but Scorpius wouldn't be Scorpius Malfoy without it. It was just a part of his nature. Plus, despite Rose's excessive readings of books with tons of spells and charms, she had yet to find a spell to make mouths disappear. She still hated being ignored though, it was her pet peeve since second year.

She twitched slightly and frowned, but quickly changed her expression to feature a very wide, but fake smile. She didn't want anyone to see it. They were in a "perfect relationship" after all. She didn't want to call him Scorpius, of course, but she would have to. It sounded as if she were calling a stranger, but she didn't exactly have a choice in this situation. "Fine, Scorpius." She said, forcing her smile to become even bigger. It was a public place and in public, she was to behave like a perfect girlfriend.

"Yes, love?" His smoky, gray eyes twinkled with amusement at the girl. Teasing her was extremely hilarious to him. His eyes seemed to almost make fun of her and taunt her without even trying. His smirk began to grow even more prominent on his face as she watched the girl twitch slightly.

"Why do we have to go to Hogsmeade together? Is there a specific reason?" She said, trying to sound as sweet as possible.

Scorpius pulled the arm that lay casually around her shoulders closer to him, causing Rose to pull up against his chest. He had caught her by surprise and her breath became irregular. She felt trapped, but she didn't really _mind_. He leaned down and whispered into her ear, tickling her slightly. "We have to look more like a couple, don't we?" She nodded with understanding. Scorpius, then let her go from his grasp. He, instead of putting his arm around her once more, laced his long, elegant fingers around her own.

Rose felt the blood rush up to her cheeks, tinting them pink. She looked away, hiding her blush from him. It was a stupid Weasley trait.

"But, what're we going to do here?" She asked calmly.

"Whatever you want," He said with a small smile.

"Don't be so cheesy, Malfoy. It's irritating, not to mention annoying." She said, forgetting about his first name all together.

He chuckled slightly and pulled her closer to him. She was leaning slightly against his soft, gray, cashmere sweater. It was soft and warm, so she couldn't help but want to get even closer. It was rather cold that day, and Rose wasn't really prepared to go outside. Rose always had a problem with cold weather and she didn't welcome the idea of freezing to death. He even smelled of cinnamon. She loved cinnamon. It was her favorite spice because it had such an interesting, spicy taste that tingled on her tongue, but it still managed to have a calming scent.

She rolled her eyes at his move, but didn't pull away immediately. One, the weather, as explained before. Next, people could see and she wasn't about to break the agreement.

"You know, I still hate you, right?" She asked quietly. Her voice was quiet, calm, and smooth. No one around them noticed, even the ones who looked a bit more closely than others. She said it without a change of emotion on her face, so they wouldn't get caught.

"The feeling's mutual, love." He said smugly.

Scorpius thought that his pet name was rather amusing. It was also contradicting. Scorpius had never been in love, nor did he want to. He didn't understand such a silly emotion. It seemed pesky and always got in the way of things. He had many friends in the Slytherin House, one including Rose's cousin, Louis. He was also friends with a few people in the other houses, such as Albus in Gryffindor, but he never really cared to know their secrets, nor did he want them to know all about his own life. (A/N: The Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry had died out years before, except for a few prejudiced children) He didn't particularly need anyone, but Rose Weasley, she was, well, _entertaining._

Rose's irritation level was on its way to exploding, she kept it inside, however. She decided to have a little competition with Scorpius to see who was a better actor. Scorpius was a good one, no doubt. His acting was almost flawless. She wanted to beat him. Rose was always a fan of competition.

Suddenly, they came to a shop. Rose looked up at the rather old, but familiar sign, _Scrivenshaft__'__s Quill Shop._ It was actually one of Rose's favorite shops to go to during Hogsmeade Weekends (though she preferred _Tomes and Scrolls_ due to their wonderful variety of books). She loved the feeling of being surrounded by things she loved. It sold everything that you could possibly need for your classes. Rose had always felt at home among the ink, parchment rolls, seals, and quills. The smell of old parchment was one of her favorites, something she had similar to her mum

"Do you need a quill, Scorpius?" She asked, suspiciously. This was odd, considering Scorpius had all his personal quills organized perfectly. He would never lose one. He would also never let anyone borrow one either. They were always in his sight, not a single one could go missing, _ever._

"No, parchment," He said calmly. This seemed more likely and realistic. The professors had piled up tons of work on them recently. They had almost 10 feet of essays due by next week. Rose, however, always had extra parchment, just in case. She had also already completed the assignments. She always liked planning ahead.

They walked in through the door and one of the wind chimes by the door jingled, releasing a small, pretty sound

"Anything you particularly need?" Said the old man at the desk. He looked at them both, his eyes twinkling. He got out of his chair and walked towards them.

He was on the small side, though not quite goblin height. There were some patches of white hair here or there on his head, though there was not enough to cover all his bald spots. His wrinkles were quite visible on his forehead and his hands, though he did not act like a very old person. His walk was sturdy and rhythmic. His rectangular glasses rested on the edge of his nose, fitting the image of the whole, entire shop. Behind his glasses, however, were big, sparkling eyes that made him seem years younger. Despite that, however, they seemed filled with wisdom and intelligence.

Scorpius spoke quickly, "Just some parchment."

The old man nodded. "I trust you know where that is, Ms. Weasley." He said, his eyes smiling at the girl.

"Yes." She nodded, smiling at the old man. Because she was a frequent visitor, they had shared a quiet, but happy, customer-store keeper relationship.

Scorpius searched the various shelves of parchment, looking for a roll that suited him. Rose looked at him with surprise. She hadn't expected the casanova Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin Quidditch Captain, to look so normal in a quill shop. The rich boy seemed to fit so well in the small, wizard stationary shop. He almost blended in with the parchment. Some might even daresay that he looked more fitting in the store than Rose, the smartest in seventh year.

He got a few scrolls of parchment and paid the old man as he left the shop with Rose. Along with his fascinating cinnamon scent, he now had a thick, interesting scent of parchment, crisp and fresh. Rose followed him down the road. Their fingers laced together once more. It almost seemed _natural._

"Where to now, Malfoy?" She asked.

Scorpius looked at her with a strange look and looked away, ignoring her question. Rose sighed, realizing her mistake. "Where are we going now, _Scorpius?_"

"Honeyduke's"

Scorpius tried to pretend not to see the gleam of excitement in her eyes. She also tried to hide her anticipation. Scorpius knew, despite being rivals, about her love of sweets. Her favorite food was licorice wands. If they weren't, her favorite food would be chocolate frogs, pepper imps, drooble's, or maybe even sugar quills. Either way, she always had a huge soft spot for sugar. He knew this because when they were younger, he had stolen a fizzing whizbee from Rose. It was a bad move because Rose had sent her famous Bat Bogey Hex on him (courtesy of her Aunt Ginny).

From the quill shop, she practically dragged Scorpius all the way to the store. Scorpius couldn't help but let out a laugh because of her absolute love (or maybe obsession) for sweets.

"You're gonna get fat from sweets one day, love." He said.

She stopped and turned around to face him. "Are you implying that I'm not fat now? That's almost a compliment."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Everyone knows you're not fat, love." Rose looked at him surprised until he bent down and whispered to her. "That doesn't change the fact that you look like a troll." Rose rolled her eyes and walked into the store. Before looking around, she turned around and shot him a nasty look but changed it into a smile before anyone could see.

She walked around the familiar shop. She didn't know what she liked better: sweets or parchment or books. She decided just not to choose because it would result in a tie. She looked around the room and ran towards the licorice wands. Scorpius smirked, he knew her favorite was licorice wands. It was always fun to be right.

"Scorpius, are you not getting anything?" She asked. She almost sounded sincere, but that was probably only because of her good mood at the moment.

He shook his head, indicating a no. "I don't particularly like sweets." Scorpius hated sweets ever since he had come across a vomit flavored beam from Bertie Bott's Every Flavored beans. He decided to stay away from candy after that, though he did enjoy a pumpkin pasty once in a while.

Rose crinkled her nose and went back to searching for her favorite sweets. The delectable candies drew her towards them. She just couldn't say no. Scorpius looked at her, leaning on a near wall. He compared her to a little muggle girl on Christmas. He had seen one when he was sightseeing around muggle London with his parents. The sparkling eyes and bright smile were hard to miss. She even had the twinkling eyes you sometimes see in muggle cartoons. Despite being a pure-blood Malfoy, his parents had turned away from dark magic once the War ended. Scorpius shared his fascination of muggle things with his parents.

Rose quickly pulled various different sweets of the shelves and bought them. She would have easily stayed there the whole time but she didn't want to look like an inconsiderate girlfriend. They were on a "date" after all.

Rose walked towards Scorpius with her bag full of sweets in her hand, and they walked out of the store. They quickly saw the number of Hogwarts students increase. This forced them to look even more "together" than before. This was irritating to both of the people there. Rose clung onto Scorpius's arm and twirled her hair slightly, imitating a love-sick teenage girl. her fake smile was when Scorpius leaned down and softly kissed her cheek. She even let out a quiet giggle.

Scorpius almost started laughing out loud at Rose's dramatic performance, but he proved how great of an actor he was by holding it in. They earned a couple of huge stares from other passing people. They even heard a "bloody hell" somewhere among the students. It was rather amusing, though they both kept their composure.

"Merlin, they're so annoying. Don't they have their own lives to deal with?" Rose said, sighing with exasperation as they walked away from most of the students. Faking was hard work.

"You put on a good act there, love."

"You're an arse." Rose said, rolling her eyes.

Scorpius let out a slight chuckle. "Is that a compliment or an insult?"

Rose looked up, the sides of her lips turning slightly upwards. "Both."

They continued walking along the road, going towards the castle. A few more people gaped at them as they continued to stroll. Scorpius suddenly stopped, looking as if he had an idea in his head. A smug smile made its home on his lips when he turned towards Rose.

"You never kiss me." He said.

"Does that matter?" Rose asked, quirking an eyebrow towards him.

"Well, this is supposed to be a mutual relationship." He said, triumphantly. A victorious glint formed in the corner of his eye as he stared at the girl. He was silently cheering on the inside because he felt as if he was beating the girl next to him. Rose Weasley would never in a million years kiss Scorpius Malfoy. It was just unheard of. She had hated him for so long. A small agreement would not be any excuse for her to _kiss _Scorpius Malfoy. She didn't give her kisses away so easily. At least, that's what Scorpius thought.

Rose looked at him from the corner of her eye. She knew what was going on and had a determination inside her to prove him wrong. She got on her tippy toes, considering she could never reach him otherwise. She gently brought her lips to his, kissing him softly. She put her hands around his neck and ran her fingers through his blonde hair and slightly intensified the kiss.

Scorpius's eyes widened, until he closed them and brought his hand up to her cheek. He deepened the kiss even further. He would later blame this on his teenage hormones, of course.

She slipped away from his grasp after a few seconds, smirking at the Slytherin boy. She walked away slowly, leaving Scorpius to his own thoughts. His eyes looked slightly cluttered with different thoughts and feelings, making him look almost confunded. _He was wrong? _ Her long hair brushed his face slightly as she was stepping away from him. A soft scent of vanilla and some other floral scent filled his nose. He followed her slowly, not saying a word and wearing the same confused, clueless expression.

Even pretend relationships can leave people speechless.

* * *

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. :D review if you have any comments or suggestions.


	4. lovely truths

"Love, can you pass me my quill?"

Rose looked over at the boy. She raised one of her eyebrows and took one of his quills and passed it to him. "I can't believe I was allowed to touch one of Scorpius Malfoy's quills," she remarked.

They were in the head's common room, studying. It was an awkward situation, considering none of them really liked to start conversations.

"By the way, Malfoy, we don't particularly need to pretend we're together. No one's around. Plus, we're in our own common room, you know." Rose said, obviously not liking his pet name for her.

Scorpius looked deep in thought until he finally acknowledged her. "Well, love, your cousin and my friend, Albus, just happens to know our password. Not to mention that Scamander scum." He said, proving his point. "Someone could come in at any time."

Rose rolled her eyes at his paranoia and looked at him, "It's not like they come in here often." She said, obviously not worried in the slightest.

Scorpius shrugged. "You never know."

Rose decided to put her concentration back to her potions project. She had finished a few nights before but she wanted to check on it just in case. She would be going over all the characteristics of the potion, making sure it was absolutely perfect. She conjured her potion quickly with her wand.

"Potions?" Scorpius asked.

"What do you think?"

"Well, are you sure you don't need help with it? Potions is obviously not your best subject, love." Scorpius said, smirking.

Rose frowned. She did not like to be reminded that she was not very good at potions. She managed to stay top of that class only after hours and hours of studying. There was a year when Scorpius had beat her at the end-of-year exams by one point. It had damaged her pride immensely. She hated the fact that Scorpius Malfoy might be better at something than her that had to do with school.

The thing was, Scorpius was captivated by Potions. He thought it was very useful and amazing. There was a potion for almost anything. This was very different from Rose, who fancied things like Charms and Ancient Runes. The only class they both seemed to find agreeable was DADA.

"Did you choose Amortentia or Veritaserum?"

Old Professor Slughorn loved choices and variety. He had given the seventh years a choice to do either Amortentia or Veritaserum. Both were quite difficult, but you were allowed to keep your potion afterwards, so some preferred one over the other.

Rose had chosen Veritaserum. She was a very honest person and thought it would come in handy, especially considering she had so many ill-behaved cousins. She also didn't really have anyone she wanted to slip a love potion to. She was not the type that wanted love-sick boys running after her. Plus, she hated the idea of having to make such a girly potion. Its purpose was absolutely horrible as well. She fancied the idea of true love and well, love potions did not make that happen.

"Veritaserum, you?" Rose actually didn't particularly care which potion Scorpius had chosen, she just felt the need to ask to sound like she had good manners.

"Amortentia, I find it more useful than Veritaserum. It's not like I need a love potion, though. Girls just automatically fall for me, unlike you. You need all the help you can get. I'm surprised you didn't choose Amortentia."

"I honestly think I would rather be respected and called love." Rose mumbled under her breath. She turned towards him. "I already finished it, though. Did you even start on yours?"

Rose already happened to know the answer to the question though. Scorpius Malfoy excelled in Potions and probably finished the project on the first day to the utmost perfection. She almost envied his talent in the particular subject.

"I finished." He said calmly.

He also conjured his cauldron with a simple wave of his wand. It appeared next to Rose's. There was a cover on it to prevent the alluring scents from escaping outside. He removed the cover slowly. Rose smelled the scents easily. She peered into the cauldron. It exceeded most expectations. It was absolutely flawless.

She admired the beautiful mother-of-pearl sheen. It was precisely the right color. The steam rose up into the air in wonderful spirals, disappearing once they passed a certain height. The potion released its appealing smells. She felt absolutely drawn to it.

Scorpius stood next to her and watched as she breathed in the different tempting scents. "What do you smell, love?" He asked. He was slightly interesting, wondering what Rose Weasley could possibly be attracted to, other than books, of course.

"Old parchment, freshly brewed coffee, melted chocolate, and…" Her voice trailed off as she breathed in the last scent. She could smell the scent. _It can't be._ The obvious scent of cinnamon wafted into her nose. It was crisp, fresh, calming, and utterly enticing. She could help but notice it was the exact smell that she had smelled on her "date"at Hogsmeade. She turned slightly pink and said, "That's it." She was a good liar and managed to fool Scorpius.

Her curious eyes led Scorpius to tell his own scents. He let the scent fill his nose. He had smelled the potion many times before but he never got tired of smelling it. His eyes turned a bit cloudy from temptation towards the potion. The inviting scents begged him to get closer. He closed his eyes, "A new bottle of ink, gingerbread, my broomstick, .."

He felt confused as he began to smell something new. It was soothing but beautiful. It smelled like a calm vanilla along with some wonderful floral scent he probably smelled in Hogsmeade. He immediately noticed where it had come from and shut hit mouth quickly. He opened it once more, "I think there's some other scent but I don't remember it. It's probably from my childhood."

Rose couldn't help but sense a small feeling of disappointment. She found it rather frustrating that she had smelled him in the potion while he hadn't. He looked at the potion with distaste, hoping that there might be a flaw in it. She almost laughed out loud from the thought that maybe, just maybe, the "perfect" Scorpius Malfoy made a mistake in his potion. She knew that could never happen, but she hadn't wanted to smell Scorpius in the potion. It was distressing.

Rose felt convinced that she only loved the scent. This had nothing to do with the person it had come from. She did love cinnamon, after all.

"Can I see your veritaserum?" Scorpius asked after covering his potion once more.

Rose nodded as she made her way to her own potion. Not to sound arrogant, but she really did think that her potion was quite above average.

"You did let it mature for a full lunar phase, right?" Scorpius asked. He raised his eyebrows as he once again mentioned how incompetent Rose was in Potions.

"Of course, what do you take me for, an idiot?" Rose shot back. "I pay attention in class and I do take notes."

Scorpius, of course, already knew this. Scorpius and Rose were basically the only two in the class that didn't fall asleep. Slughorn was a rather interesting teacher who tried to keep his class educational but fun. His age had gotten to him though, and he was not the same bright teacher he had once been. Rose and Scorpius both took very careful notes, but Scorpius had always wanted to have Rose's notes. They were neatly organized and her handwriting was elegant and perfect. He would've liked them much more than his own notes. His handwriting was quite a bit messy. He had often been scolded from his mother because of his illegible handwriting. It was not "gentleman-like" in her words.

Scorpius turned to Rose as she revealed her potion. He looked at the potion, slightly impressed (though he did not show this, of course). The potion fit all the requirements perfectly. It had absolutely no color, appearing like water at first glance. It also had no odor, unlike the potion they had just seen. It was a great potion,

Scorpius wanted to see it in action. "Do you want to test it, love?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

She nodded. She found no harm in telling him honest answers. In addition, she had always wanted to know a couple of things about the Slytherin. She pondered over a few questions she could ask him before facing him. "You first?"

"No, love. Ladies first."

Rose scowled at the boy before sitting down. "Ask away, Malfoy." She smiled as she waved her wand and conjured a dropper. She put it into the cauldron to gather some of the potion. Afterwards, she quickly put three drops into her mouth. She looked at him, indicating she was ready.

"Were those three things the only things you smelled in the Amortentia?" He asked curiously.

Rose had thought that she had completely fooled the boy into thinking there were only three. Obviously, Scorpius Malfoy was not as gullible as he seemed. She frowned. _Evil brute._

"No."

He looked rather happy with the answer. "What was the fourth?"

She bit her lip, trying to find a way out of answering. She knew she would eventually have to, though. "Cinnamon."

He looked at her curiously before asking another question. "Do you still have feelings for Lorcan Scamander?"

_This is easy._ "No."

"Do you like someone else?"

"Yes."

This surprised herself quite a bit. She had no idea she liked someone. This was odd. She didn't like anyone, did she? Well, this was the truth potion, but she didn't particularly have anyone on her mind.

"Do you hate me?" He asked, his eyes piercing into hers.

"No."

This surprised both of them. She was beginning to wonder if she did her potion correctly. Scorpius's eyes got as round as quaffles as he stared at the girl. Perhaps Rose didn't hate him, just disliked him immensely. There was an awkward silence lingering in the air before Scorpius let out a cough and continued with his questions.

"Do you think I'm handsome and good at Quidditch?" He asked.

"Yes."

This was the truth, considering Scorpius Malfoy was far from ugly, even Rose knew that. He was good-looking to say the least. He was also amazing at Quidditch, a fool could figure that bit out. This didn't keep Rose's cheeks from turning slightly pink, though.

Scorpius laughed at the answer.

"Do you think you're smarter than me?"

"Yes." She smiled smugly. She knew she was smarter than him. She was continuously top of the class and not even Scorpius could possibly beat her.

Scorpius frowned and stared at the Head Girl. "You are not smarter than me." Rose rolled her eyes. "Continue the questions, Malfoy."

Malfoy suddenly had a mischievous look in his eyes as he thought of his next question. She felt a bit uncomfortable and worried about what his next question could possibly be. He stared down at her.

"Did you shag Lorcan?"

"Yes."

She instantly felt the blood rush up to her cheeks. She turned a similar shade to a tomato as she said the word. Of course, Scorpius would think of these types of questions. It was so predictable, but it was embarrassing nonetheless.

"Was he your first?"

"No."

Scorpius was slightly taken back. He felt a bit bothered by this, though he didn't have a clue why. It had absolutely nothing to do with him whatsoever. Also, he, himself, had shagged many girls before, so it wasn't that big of a deal. It was nothing, absolutely nothing important.

"Did you think I was a good choice for head boy?" He asked, sincerely wondering.

He had always been afraid that he had done a terrible job. He had skipped a few rounds here and there, but overall, he had tried his best.

"Yes."

Rose was no idiot. She knew that there was probably no better candidate for Head Boy. The only others she could think of was Albus Potter and Louis Weasley, but Albus and Louis both had had a slight problem with their grades lately. Scorpius was the only one for the job. It was a bitter truth, but still the truth in the end.

"I think it's wearing off now." Rose said. She no longer felt the heavy burden on her tongue to tell the truth. She had gone through enough embarrassment and was extremely relieved.

She took the dropper and once again brought up the potion. She turned to Scorpius. "Open up, it's your turn now."

Scorpius opened his mouth as Rose dropped three drops into his mouth. She sat down in a chair opposite him, not wanting to stand.

"Ready?" She asked, obviously excited.

"Yes."

She pondered a bit on all the questions she could possibly ask. Scorpius looked at her, slightly nervous about what she might ask after all the things he had asked her. She wanted to give him just as much embarrassment.

"Have you ever liked a girl you were with?"

"No."

_Shameless bastard._

She decided to repeat one of his own questions back at him after that. "Do you hate me?" She honestly wanted to know, considering she did not want to be the only one of the two that didn't despise the other.

"No."

She bit back a smile.

"Do you think I'm smarter than you?"

"Yes."

Scorpius, himself, seemed very surprised at his answer. Did he just admit that someone was better than him at something? It was extremely amusing to Rose. She started to understand why Scorpius was having so much fun asking her questions and listening to her answers. She held back a laugh as she proceeded.

"What's your favorite color?"

Rose knew this was sort of a waste of a question, but she had always wondered. She expected it to be one of Slytherin's house colors, but if it wasn't, she wanted to know.

"Ocean blue."

Rose nodded, not realizing the connection at all. Scorpius's eyes widened at the girl. He stared at her, slightly gaping at her eyes. He was staring directly at the color he was seeing in his head. The exact shade of ocean blue he was imagining in his head was staring directly at him. It was an absolutely breath-taking color, though he would never admit it out loud.

"Favorite scent?"

"Vanilla." He said automatically.

Rose looked at him, raising an eyebrow slightly. She didn't remember him saying that for his Amortentia scents. She shrugged this off easily, moving on to the next question.

Scorpius officially deemed Rose as dense. Rose was a clever, smart, and witty person, but she seemed to lack some intelligence in the common-sense department.

"Favorite kiss from a girl?" Rose asked. Scorpius had snogged more than his fair share of girls and she was curious to know which one had been his favorite.

"Yours"

Rose stared at him with curious eyes, wondering. Instead of thinking deeper into the situation, however, she came up with her own explanation. "No wonder, most of the others probably ate your face off." He shrugged at the girl, excepting her answer. He didn't particularly want it to be anything more than that.

If you were to ask why Scorpius had chosen Rose's kiss over everyone else's, he would not have answered truthfully. The honest truth was that Rose's kiss was the only thing he hadn't done for fun. He felt a little something more with Rose than a kid playing with a toy. Whether it was burning hatred or passionate lust, he didn't know, but he didn't want to admit this out loud either way. The thing that was absolutely special about her kiss was it left him absolutely clueless and confused. It was as if he was hit by a confundus charm.

"Do you honestly think I'm ugly and horrid looking?" Rose asked.

This was one question Rose had really wanted to ask. Rose had always suffered from a lack of self confidence. She had low self esteem since she was a young girl. She personally thought that she was ugly, not at all pretty. She felt incomparable to those muggle celebrities she saw on advertisements or even some of the girls at Hogwarts. She especially felt insecure around her cousin, Lily Potter, who was a rather pretty girl. Other than comparing herself to others, she had suffered numerous criticisms from Scorpius, such as: troll, buck-tooth, gnome, frizzy-haired monster, and freckle face, that had lowered her confidence even more.

"No."

Scorpius looked away from her gaze, avoiding her accusing eyes. He always believed that Rose Weasley could never be ugly. The other Slytherins had agreed. They might've believed she was an insufferable know-it-all, quick tempered, and a complete bitch sometimes, but never ugly. It just wasn't something that you would think of when you thought of Rose Weasley.

Rose felt her cheeks get hot, not from embarrassment but from anger. She felt furious at the fact that Scorpius had lied to her all these years, making her feel like a low, hideous bitch.

"I'll stop, now."

Scorpius nodded.

"I do believe that was the longest talk we've had without criticizing each other."

Rose nodded, her anger diminishing. She couldn't help but laugh at the comment.

Scorpius looked at Rose as if she was sort of looney. He was not used to her laugh at all. Rose was not a usual laugher, considering she was usually in a serious mood. Plus, if she ever truly laughed out loud, it would not be in front of Scorpius Malfoy. He had never really heard her true laugh. It was not a girly giggle, like most girls, but a genuine whole-hearted laugh.

Rose noticed him staring and stopped, biting her lip.

"You're still an arse." She said simply while cleaning up her books. She tapped her cauldron once with her wand, making it vanish. She picked up a few of her quills and held her various books in her arms.

"I know it, love. And you're still a crazy bitch." He said, winking at the girl.

Rose rolled her eyes while walking away into her dorm.

Who knew potions could help bring people, might as well enemies, together?


	5. admitting defeat

"As I have said before, you have to look beyond everything you might see with your eyes now. You must connect with your surroundings to use your inner eye to see the future. You must open your minds to broaden your ..."

The voice seemed to continuously flow on and on with the same nonsense every single day. Though the wording was usually different, the same material was taught over and over. It was an absolute bore, unless you were someone like Amy Finnagan, who absolutely adored Divination. People believed that Professor Trelawney was a nice person, but she wasn't very… well… for lack of a better term, she was not their favorite teacher.

Rose was completely dying during the class. She was sinking further into her chair as she lowered her head onto her desk. Her books and her curls provided a very nice pillow for the girl. It was actually pretty comfortable.

Don't misunderstand, though. Rose loved the idea of learning, classes, and school in general. Divination was just a boring class all over. It made her want to roll over and play dead. She had an automatic O (Outstanding) in Divination anyways. It was too simple.

Rose looked over to see if her bat-eyed teacher was looking over in her direction. She made herself even more relaxed on her "pillow" and closed her eyes. She was about to make up for a few lost nights of sleep when she felt a hard nudge at her side. She was going to ignore it until she felt yet another nudge.

She looked over at the person beside her, glaring. Scorpius was sitting next to her in that particular class and he had noticed her napping position. He glanced down at her and rolled his eyes at the girl. He just simply didn't understand how such a clueless, irresponsible girl could possibly be top of the class. Instead of seeing her as the smartest person in their year, like most people, he saw her as a dense, short-tempered, absolutely annoying Gryffindor that loved nothing more than sweets. Honestly, falling asleep in classes wasn't really being a posterchild of brilliance.

Rose intensified her glare and then looked around to see if any eyes were focused in their direction. No one was looking at them, surprisingly. This was rare, considering ever since they started "dating", everyone seemed to watch them like owls.

She tried to ignore Scorpius once more, putting her head back into a comfy position. She suddenly felt a huge pain on her foot. Scorpius had _stepped _on her. She bit her tongue to prevent her from whimpering. It hurt, a lot. He was getting on her nerves now.

"You just stepped on my foot."

It was quite a stupid, obvious thing to say in such a situation, but it was the only thing that came up to her head at the moment.

"I'm glad you aren't numb, love. I think I realized that bit of information." Rose looked at Scorpius. His eyes were filling up with hints of humor. Rose scowled.

"Didn't your mother teach you that it's somewhat impolite to step on people, you insufferable brute? Don't you know your manners?" She said, her voice turning a bit bitterer by the second.

"You're lucky I even graced you with the opportunity of being able to be stepped on by me. These shoes are probably worth more than you and your whole family." Rose held in a smile, the old Malfoy was peeking out from under his locked cage.

"I thought you agreed to be civilized, Malfoy." Rose said.

Then, there it was again, the infamous Malfoy smirk. It made Rose's blood boil under her skin. Why was there always a smirk on his face? It was irritating.

"I hate you."

"You know, love, you've said that way too many times. You're beginning to sound like a broken muggle record." He said, his smirk growing bigger by each and every word.

"Shut up, you arse."

"Oh, touchy."

"I hate Divination."

Scorpius looked at her and chuckled. He was about to agree and shoot something back at her, maybe an insult of some kind, when he noticed that the big eyes of Professor Trelawney were beginning to linger on them. He looked up at the board, trying to look like he was actually paying attention. This seemed to fool the teacher, who continued to sprout rubbish from her mouth.

Instead of talking at the moment, just in case, Scorpius scribbled a few words onto a piece of spare parchment. He handed her the note. Rose looked a bit surprised at the action, considering Scorpius had always liked the sound of his own voice, rather than notes.

**Despite your grades, I do believe you are a stupid girl.**

Rose wrinkled her nose and crinkled her eyebrows with frustration. She quickly thought of a comeback and wrote it down quickly, satisfied with her words. She handed it back to the Slytherin beside her.

_I thought you said I was smarter than you with the Veritaserum. _

**Shut it, Weasley.**

_Oh, you finally got rid of the love. Thank Merlin. _

Scorpius smiled softly at the note and looked over at the girl. He had a suspicious look on his face. He bent down towards the girl and put her lips close to her ear. He whispered, "Hello love." He retracted his head, only to be greeted with yet another glare from Rose Weasley.

"You're really irritating me, Malfoy." She said resentfully.

"It's Scorpius, _love._"

She frowned and ignored him once more. She looked over at the professor. She watched as the teacher went on and on about the future and things she already knew. Her forehead crinkled, as if she was in deep thought, but actually, she was just deciding what to say to the boy. Instead, she just decided that she would just ignore her "boyfriend" for the rest of the day, or at least attempt to.

Once the class ended, she quickly collected her books and shuffled out of the room, ignoring the presence of Scorpius Malfoy. She looked a bit frustrated as she walked down a few corridors and hallways. She was getting tired of the couple nonsense they had to continually put up. At first it was a fun competition, now it was getting exhausting.

She continued to walk until she heard a couple of footsteps behind her. Either this person was really bad at stalking people, or Rose just had really good hearing. She quickened her own pace to avoid being caught by this mysterious person. Her follower's footsteps were heavy but just as quick as hers, so she knew it must be a boy.

She was suddenly caught by the arm by a strong by. "Woah there, Rosie. Slow down or you just might trip again."

Rose groaned. She hated being reminded of her clumsy nature.

She looked up to see the familiar face of one of her favorite cousins. He was one of the most handsome boys in the grade, thanks to his 1/4 veela mother. She rolled her eyes as she looked up to the "innocent, angelic" face of Louis Weasley.

Her cousin's hair was a golden color, much like his own mothers. It was a bit long, but the ends curled slightly, giving him a younger, pretty-boy look. His blue eyes, not unlike Rose's at all, were rather _pretty._

"Aw, aren't you happy to see me, your favorite cousin?" Louis said, his lower lip forming into a pout.

"Hey, I'm her favorite cousin." She heard.

She was met by yet another one of her mischievous cousins. Albus's dark hair was a bit messier than his father's (if that was possible) because it was a bit longer and fell into his eyes slightly. His emerald green eyes were just as bright as usual. They were a bit more noticeable this year, however, because they were no longer hidden behind round glasses. He had replaced them with contacts. Muggles were sometimes geniuses.

"That would be up for discussion." She said, laughing at the two of them.

She turned to Louis. She hadn't seen Louis in a while, considering Louis had been placed in Slytherin and they weren't really in similar classes. She grinned up at her cousin.

"You've gotten taller, Lou." She said, feeling tiny next to the tall boy.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" He said, hugging her.

"How's my favorite Slytherin cousin?"

He smile became wider, revealing perfect white teeth. He laughed and tackled her with yet another hug. Rose never could quite understand why Louis of all people could get placed in Slytherin. Though she would never tell Albus, she believed that Albus would be placed in Slytherin, not Louis. Louis was basically made for Gryffindor, despite his little pranks with Albus. The sorting was funny, she supposed.

Another thing she couldn't understand about both her cousins, Louis and Albus, were how they were friends with Scorpius Malfoy. It was strange how one cousin could completely despise a person while two other family members spent most of their time with the same person.

"Are you coming to my game tomorrow, Rosie?" Louis asked, his eyes begging her.

Albus snorted. "Rosie? Come to a Quidditch game? She barely comes to Gryffindor matches, even if I, her favorite cousin, am on the team."

Louis shot a look for Albus to shut up and turned back to Rose. "Will you, please?"

Rose crinkled her nose with obvious distaste. Her curiosity was killed once Albus said the q-word. She hated watching Quidditch, she hated the idea of Quidditch, and she hated playing Quidditch. It was a well-known fact among their family. Sure, she respected the sport; she would have to admit that. It was just not enjoyable to her. To her, it was a complete bore and a complete, utter waste of her precious time. Albus and Louis, more than anyone else, should've known that.

"Please, Rosie! Come on!"

Rose grunted and rolled her eyes. She just thought about how loud the game would be. The endless cheering from the crowds of students would give her brain damage. It was that bad. Plus, she was afraid of flying ever since she was little. She had always worried that one of her friends or family would fall off. She had even cried when Albus fell off a broom in Third Year and never went to a Quidditch game since.

"I won't fall off or anything." Louis said, copying Rose's eye-roll to make fun of her. Since when did Louis master the ability of mind-reading?

"You're just too predictable, Rosie" Albus said, smirking.

_I am not_.

"You are Rosie, just admit it." Louis said, his smile widening on his face.

Rose scowled. She hated it when her cousins ganged up on her. She glared at them until she finally gave in and cracked a small smile. She then returned to the dreaded topic of Quidditch.

"Who's playing?"

"Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

"Then why would I, a Gryffindor, possibly be interested in going?" She asked Louis, raising one of her eyebrows.

Louis and Albus both looked at their cousin and then at each other, debating on whether or not they should answer her. They glanced at her, as if asking each other whether she was stupid or not. Louis looked confused, like a five year old trying to decide which Weasley product they wanted. Rose laughed, teasing them a little.

Louis opened his mouth to speak, paused a second to recap on the things he probably already thought of in his head, and then started to explain thoroughly. "First of all, my dear cousin, your cute, good-looking, adorable, favorite, talented, good-looking, smart, wonderful, amazing, and did I mention good-looking? cousin (Albus snorts) will be playing. Second of all, your BOYFRIEND, the all too-perfect Scorpius Malfoy will also be playing. Third, your boyfriend will also be playing your ex-boyfriend, who just so happens to have the name of Lorcan Scamander."

Rose nodded with a frown. She cursed on the inside about how Louis just had to mention and say the word boyfriend too many times, emphasize the word boyfriend, and rub it in that Scorpius Malfoy was her boyfriend. It seemed to bite her every time he said the word, constantly haunting her. She swore that if he repeated it ONE more time, she would be jumping off the astronomy tower, dragging her cousin with her.

"That doesn't mean she has to go. First of all, Louis, you are NOT Rose's favorite cousin, I am. Second of all, I do believe I am better looking than you, though you may be smarter, and I am better at Quidditch, so why would she go to your games when she hardly ever came to mine?" Albus said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I agree with Albus, I still don't understand why that would convince me to go to such a ruthless, brutal game." She answered sharply. Her tone was bitter because she wanted to avoid the horrid game as much as possible, and she was still a bit angry at the emphasis on the word boyfriend.

Louis gaped at both of them and then turned his body to stare at Rose. He crossed his arms across his chest, just as Albus had done moments before, and stared at her, his gaze never faltering. He pursed his lips, indicating he was not going to speak to her. Rose knew this game, Louis had often done it as a young kid. He would just stare and stay silent until Rose would do whatever he wanted her to do. She frowned because she knew he would win. She had never been able to take in his treatment, much to her disappointment. She hated being stared at; it made her feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. She also despised being ignored, especially from Louis, who was one of the people that talked to her the most. Louis knew this well, from years of practice.

"Fine."

She was suddenly swept up in a hug from Louis, a huge one this time.

"THANK YOU ROSIE! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

Albus's jaw dropped to the floor and he frowned. "Rose, I can't believe you, you're going to Louis's game when you've never come to one of mine? That's just unfair."

"I do believe you owe me two galleons, Albus, dear." Louis said, smirking.

"YOU BET ON THIS?" Rose said, scowling with unbelief.

Louis looked at her sheepishly. "You're just too predictable, cous."

She turned to Albus. "Sorry, Al, I'll come to your next game, okay?" She gave him a small smile.

Albus nodded and sighed. "I'll come to the Quidditch game with you, don't worry, Rose." He said, grinning once again and walked away.

Rose then turned to Louis. "You're lucky I'm even showing up."

Louis nodded. "Albus'll be there. Plus, Lily's going to be cheering from the stands, too. She has a lot of Slytherin pride, that girl. Too bad she can't play yet. But she doesn't have to worry, she'll get my keeper position once I leave after this year."

Lily Potter was a bright girl, but it was no surprise that she got into Slytherin. Her snappy comebacks, clever mind, and ambitious spirit were evident to everyone who met her. She still had a good heart, however, especially for Quidditch. She loved the sport, no matter how much Rose protested her playing.

Rose walked away from her cousin, saying a quick bye. She walked up to the Heads' common room quickly. She had a test the next day for Arithmancy. Though she had been studying all week, she felt the need to get a few more minutes in. Arithmancy was a rather difficult subject, even if Rose passed with flying colors. She always wanted to be sure of herself.

She walked up a few staircases and down a couple of corridors until she reached the familiar painting. She didn't hear any footsteps behind her, much to her enjoyment. She enjoyed being alone at times. _Metamorphagus_, she whispered. The painting opened the way into the common room. She stepped in and realized the place was empty, which also added to her happiness.

She saw the olive-green couch that she loved so much and walked towards it swiftly. She plopped down in it's comfy cushions and conjured her Arithmancy book with a swish of her wand. She opened the red book and studied. Little did she know that she was soon to be interrupted.

She sat completely immersed in her book, not realizing it when Scorpius Malfoy had come into the room as well. He sat on a nearby royal blue couch. Only when he cleared his throat loudly did she realize he was there. She looked over from the corner of her eye to see the blonde boy sitting there, looking at her with amusement.

She then remembered the agreement that she had made with herself. She would ignore the boy as much as possible. He was getting on her nerves, anyway. It would be interesting and entertaining to watch his reaction.

"Love?" He said softly.

This of course, made her even more irritated than usual, if that was possible. Instead of snapping a comment at him, however, she reimbursed herself into her world of the different numbers of Arithmancy.

"Hello? Weasley?" He said. He scooched closer to the girl and waves his long fingers in front of her eyes, attempting to catch her attention. Rose acted if she hadn't seen a thing. She was not half bad as an actress. She was actually doing pretty compared to her usual standards.

"Come on, Weasley, speak to me." Scorpius said, actually sounding like he wanted to speak to the girl. This surprised Rose a lot, though she didn't show it on her face. _Why would Malfoy want to speak to me?_

Rose suddenly felt her book being taken out of her hands, she opened her mouth in protest when she realized that she was not going to lose. Scorpius put her book down on a nearby table.

He put his two hands on the sides of her face, bringing her eyes to focus on his own. His smoky, gray eyes pierced into her own blue ones. She was trapped. Directly in front of her face was Scorpius's own perfectly structured face. On both sides were his hands, disallowing her to move. Also, to her back was the back of the couch, though it was comfortable, she hated it at the moment. She couldn't escape.

She was defeated.

"Now, you can't ignore me, love." Scorpius whispered.

His minty breath flooded her nose, as well as his soft scent of cinnamon.

Scorpius brought his lips to hers, barely letting them touch. Their lips were together for only about two seconds until Scorpius let her go. He got up and looked down at her with his gray eyes. His signature Scorpius Malfoy smirk was evident on his face. She frowned, slightly. She wrinkled her forehead from frustration when she noticed to boy lean down to her once more.

Instead of her lips, however, he brought his face down to her ear and whispered. "Thanks for agreeing to come to the game, love." He said.

As he walked back into his room, he chuckled quietly, obviously amused.

She scowled. _Stupid Louis, Stupid Albus, Stupid Scorpius. _

Still, she admitted defeat.

* * *

**Author's note**:

Hey guys! I'm sorry this chapter took a more days than the others. I was a bit busy, but I got it up! I'll try not to take so long in the future. I hope you guys don't mind ):

Also, I would like to say that I really appreciate reviews!


	6. quidditch fall

Rose pushed herself through the crowds of people on the tall spectator towers on which she stood. She elbowed a few people, hoping that it didn't hurt them _too_much. She was rather impatient and she had promised Albus and Lily that she would meet them in the front row. She couldn't see them so far, which was irritating her. She'd been there for more than ten minutes, but she still couldn't see her cousins. She was continuously pushed and pulled by the many people that had gathered to watch the game. In the end, she somehow ended up in the front, nearest to the actual Quidditch pit.

She spotted a familiar mess of dark hair and smiled. _Finally._

"Albus!" She shouted over the crowds of people chanting with House pride.

Her cousin turned at the sound of his name until he glanced towards a familiar girl. "Rosie! Over here!"

She pushed herself through a few people, who were too busy shouting to care. She walked over towards her cousin and finally felt calm and relaxed. She saw her cousin Lily next to him. She was not as close with her younger cousin as she was with Albus, but sometimes Albus was a bother, especially when she wanted to talk about _girl_ things. Lily had always been there.

Lily was also a very pretty girl. Her hair was a bright red, nearing a shade of orange. It was straight and came up to her shoulders, though it was usually tight up into a loose bun or a tight ponytail. She hated how it came into her face, especially when she played Quidditch. She also had a pair of hazel eyes that were absolutely stunning. She had more freckles than Rose, but they seemed to fit in with Lily's image. She was a skinny girl, as well.

Rose had always been jealous of Lily's looks. Lily had attracted many boys in the past, much to James's and Albus's dislikes. This was strange, however, considering Rose had attracted just as maybe (more likely _more)_

"Lil!" She called, seeing her cousin. She shot Lily a huge grin, which was returned with a bright smile.

She finally felt comfortable among all the Slytherin students. She liked a couple of them, seeing familiar faces, but the overall atmosphere was hard for Rose to handle. She was used to quiet places, like the Library. The shouting and all the rambunctiousness confused Rose. She wasn't used to so much noise. She also would not have even noticed that the game had started if the Quidditch instructor wasn't so loud.

She looked down at the pitch, seeing the Quidditch instructor. She felt a bit sick at the fact that she was up so high. She hated heights more than anything.

"LET THE GAME BEGIN!" The tall man said.

Rose recognized him immediately. Mister Oliver Wood was a good family friend of hers. His brown hair and brown eyes were familiar to Rose. It made her feel slightly less unfitting. He was the flying teacher and Quidditch instructor at Hogwarts. He was still ambitious and well-built. After the Battle of Hogwarts, he had returned to Puddlemere United on the reserved team. Afterwards, he found out that Madame Hooch had retired and returned to school for her position. Now, he was settled down with his wife, though he did not have any kids at the moment. He still remained good friends with the Potters and the Weasleys, though. His voice was familiar and friendly, unlike the game that was occurring before Rose.

He released the bludgers and the snitch. He then threw the quaffle up in the air, starting the match. The many different quidditch players flew all around her, ruining her sense of concentration, or at least, what was left of it.

She was just relieved that she was able to differ the Slytherins and the Ravenclaws with ease. The Slytherins wore their green Quidditch robes, with dashes of silver on them. They were also quick and cunning in all their moves, tricking a few Ravenclaws while playing. The Ravenclaws, on the contrary, wore royal blue robes with a few lines of bronze. They were smart in every action they took, obviously strategical. They moved skillfully.

She instantly spotted Scorpius on his broom. His blonde hair was hard to miss. Rose had not realized it before, but it had gotten a few shades darker than what it had been a few years back. He might've grown, but to Rose he was still the same arrogant arse. She watched as the boy glided through the air, zooming past the people in the stands from time to time. He glanced everywhere quickly, looking for a certain golden ball. He scanned the area carefully with his eyes. He was the Seeker, afterall.

There was also Lorcan, who was also a Seeker. His determination was evident on his face.

Scorpius and Lorcan were in an entirely different world than the other players.

Rose, on the other hand, was not enjoying the experience. She was getting reunited with the reasons why she hated Quidditch.

Next, she glanced up and down, looking for Louis. He _was_ the reason she went there in the first place. She soon saw her cousin by the goal hoops. He was doing a pretty good job at disallowing any quaffles from entering the hoops so far.

She didn't really understand the point of the game, though. People around her in the stands were shouting random Quidditch references and words. It all sounded like gibberish to her. She frowned. She wasn't enjoying the experience that much.

She tried very hard to pay attention to the game and put all her focus into watching it. It was a difficult task. Rose didn't find any entertainment in the game whatsoever. She didn't see any fun in it. They were on brooms, chasing after random balls. It wasn't that fun, was it? She just couldn't comprehend why you would play such a pointless game, might as well fly on broomsticks? It was absolutely absurd to her. She hated flying.. with a _passion_,

Rose flew once in her life. Albus had gotten one of his first, very own broomsticks. He wanted to show Rose the "wonderful" experience of flying. He tempted her, telling her it gave him a "whirl of excitement" and a "stomach full of butterflies" every single time. She had hesitated at first, due to her fear of heights, but Albus had one her over with his various pretty words and candy bribes. She had climbed on his broom with him. Once they rose into the air, Rose had started panicking. They were barely three meters up in the air when Rose started clinging to her cousin with all her might. She didn't remember anything after that because she had fainted while flying. When she woke up, she had the most brutal headache. She swore to herself that she'd never fly again.

"Rosie, you alright?" Lily asked, her hazel eyes glinting with worry.

"I'm fine, i'm just reliving a bad memory."

Albus twitched, he knew what it was.

Lily nodded, bringing a pair of bulky binoculars up to her eyes. She scanned the pitch, obviously looking for something.

Rose had to admit, she probably would've fallen asleep if it weren't for the people around her. She especially wanted to hex the first year girls around her. Their high-pitched voices and their obnoxious giggles just wouldn't stop. Their never-ending energy was absolutely sickening. She had never been so ridiculously hyper at their age. It was preposterous.

She soon ended up staring off to space. She actually sort of looked like she was into the game, from a spectator's view. From her view, she was dozing off into her own little daydreams.

She suddenly felt a small tap on her shoulder. Then, the taps got harder and faster until she felt like she was going to die of being slapped so many times. "What do you want Lily?"

"LOOK, ROSIE! SCORPIUS HAD SEEN THE SNITCH!" Lily said, squealing with delight.

She understood that people were happy that their house was winning, but she didn't understand all the frantic excitement going through the whole stand. She suddenly heard everyone around her chanting. "Malfoy Malfoy Malfoy"

She decided to watch the game, finding a little bit of interest in it, for the first time in her life. She scanned the pit in front of her, seeing the two seekers going almost head to head towards the snitch. She watched as the bronze-haired Ravenclaw boy shared glances with the Slytherin everyone was cheering for in the Slytherin stand. There seemed to be a bolt of lightning between the two. It was getting personal. It was a race for the snitch. The rest of the game wasn't particularly mattering anymore.

She didn't know why this part of the game was so attracting to her. She had been through this part of Quidditch games before, but they had never been as interesting and entertaining as this one. She just had an ultimate desire to follow the scene with her eyes, her blue eyes not straying even once from the two seekers.

That was when she suddenly felt something wrong. She didn't feel the solid wooden platforms under her feet anymore. The cheers and the chanting were not as close as they had been. She didn't feel the warmth of her cousin anymore. She felt herself feeling partially weightless. Her stomach flipped and turned. She hated being weightless. It was just as bad as the Cruciatus Curse to her. She couldn't even stand those muggle contraptions called "roller coasters".

She looked around her, unaware of what had happened. She looked down, widening her eyes at the sight. The floor of the spectator tower was no longer underneath her. The whole spectator tower was rather, a few meters away from her. She whimpered and looked around, looking for a way out. She was hovering above the Quidditch pitch, with no way out but down. She was in midair, floating. And.. she didn't know why.

"ROSE!" She heard Lily scream.

The cheers from the different spectators suddenly died out, replaced by gasps and a few shrieks of horror. They were realizing what it was, as did she. _Levitation Charm_. Someone, somewhere, somehow, was intending to levitate her and maybe even, drop her.

She wanted to scream, but she just couldn't. She couldn't find the strength. She found herself being overcome by the terrible feeling of being in the air. Her insides twisted and she just felt like she wanted to die. Instead of squeezing her eyes shut, like she planned to originally, she just widened them in absolute horror and fear. She bit the bottom of her lip. She wouldn't have been very surprised if it had started bleeding.

"SOMEONE DO SOMETHING! SAVE HER!" She heard Albus shout.

Louis knew he wouldn't make it that fast, he was all the way on the other side of the field, it would be too late once he got there. Plus, he was frozen in place, his face turning whiter and whiter as he saw his cousin float even further away from firm ground.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Rose heard Lorcan ask.

"DOES IT MATTER? SHE'S AFRAID OF HEIGHTS YOU PRICK!" She heard Malfoy shout.

_How did he know that? _

She suddnely didn't feel like asking anymore questions. The weightlessness was replaced by an even more fluttering butterflies as she realized she was falling. Someone had stopped the charm. She almost screamed, but she couldn't. She realized that the ground was approaching a bit too close for comfort. She saw everything start to become absolutely black, right as she fell into a pair of arms.

Rose had been caught by noneother than Scorpius Malfoy. She just wasn't awake to realize it.

The safe, strong arms caught her with ease. He shifted himself on his broom a bit, to make sure that she fit perfectly into his arms. He didn't want to risk her falling, and also wanted her to be comfortable just in case she were to wake up as he flew down. One arm supported her shoulders while the other held the back of her knees. It was basically the "princess/bridal style" that you would see some people carry people in. This was, of course, granted by a few "aww"s from the girls in the crowd, along with a few sighs and angry bursts of envy.

Though Scorpius showed no emotion in his face as he looked down at the girl in his arms, he felt a wave of relief fill his whole body. His stone face was merely a cover up. Her face was an extremely pale shade, even paler than his own. She didn't have the usual rosy tint on her cheeks that he was so used to seeing. It was rather strange to see such a white Rose. Her eyes were closed at the moment (obviously), but her long eyelashes still made her look pretty. However, Scorpius missed the sight of her ocean blue eyes. Scorpius glanced down at her once again, though he was almost reaching the ground of the Quidditch pitch. He stared at her lips, almost touching them softly with his own, despite his better judgment. He would later describe this as a slight lapse of judgment or a break from his right mind. Her body was warm against his, despite the coldness of the air, but a bit of life had escaped her. Her auburn curls cascaded down his arms and into the air around her.

Perhaps for show, or maybe not for show, he moved one of his arms and put his hand on her neck and lifted up her face, so it would be closer to his own. He softly brought his lips to her forehead, kissing it slightly. This was granted by even more attention from the crowd.

He reached the ground when he suddenly heard the commentator, Jackson Jordan, yell, but with less enthusiasm than usual, "LORCAN SCAMANDER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! RAVENCLAW WINS! (and he couldn't help but add) - though it wasn't really fair."

Unlike usual, there were no cheers erupting on the Ravenclaw towers, nor the players. They remained silent with solemn expressions glued on their faces. Even his own team members looked rather embarrassed and guilty. They knew they didn't win fairly. It was foul play. They didn't truly win. Scorpius had been saving someone's life while Lorcan had just caught the snitch in a _game_. They also knew that if Rose hadn't fallen, Scorpius would have most likely caught the snitch himself, before Lorcan.

Scorpius stood on the ground walking towards the school once more. She had to be taken to the Hospital Wing.

He suddenly heard several pairs of feet coming towards him.

"The game doesn't matter, don't worry about it." His fellow teammates said, circling around him. Scorpius nodded. The truth was, he didn't care about the game that much, at the time.

He suddenly saw the worried face of Louis Weasley among them. His usual bright expression had turned rather pale and frightened. He was breathing heavily, probably from flying over as fast as he can. He walked over, his teammates making room for the boy. He looked down at his cousin. "Get better, Rosie." He said, his tone sounding worried as hell.

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" He heard.

He saw an impatient Lily Potter, who looked ready to hex anyone to move out of the way to her cousin. Lily was always a head-strong, courageous girl who couldn't help her bossy attitude at times. He looked over also at Albus, whose face was looking a bit sickly. "You okay, Al?" He asked.

"Is she alright?" He asked, his face not changing.

"Yeah, I think she just fainted."

Albus nodded as Lily was not so quiet with her feelings.

"WHO THE BLOODY HELL WOULD HURT ROSIE? WHO LEVITATED HER? WHEN I FIND OUT WHO IT IS, THEY'LL WISH THEY NEVER BLOODY CAME INTO THIS WORLD!..."

A few of the people who were around them moved away from the infuriated Lily. She was mad and that was never a good sound. The only person who could usually calm her down was Albus or Rose. Albus was not in his right attention to focus on Lily, and Rose, well she wasn't in the right condition.

"You want me to carry her, Scor. Your arms might be a bit tired." He heard Louis said, his voice still full of worry.

Scorpius suddenly felt a wave of panic arouse in him. His arms were most definitely not tired, not one bit. His mind became a bit anxious at the thought of being separated with the girl in his arms, although he didn't know why. His hold on her tightened slightly as he shot a look at Louis. He held her a bit closer to him.

"I'll take that as a no." Louis said. He cracked a small smile at his friend.

Scorpius felt a pang of guilt. He felt a bit bad about lying to Louis, and Albus for that matter, about his little agreement with Rose. They didn't seem to suspect anything, either. They delighted in the fact that their two closest friends -other than each other- were together, and not at each other's throats. It was just profusely difficult at times, considering they didn't know that this was a selfish scam of theirs.

He noticed the Headmistress coming his way. Professor McGonagall's mousy brown hair had faded into a grayer shade. Her wrinkles were more prominent on her face. She had gotten a bit thinner through the years from old age, though she hadn't started to shrink in height yet. The only things that looked exactly the same was her cat-like eyes and her stern expressions.

"Are you taking Ms. Weasley up to the Hospital Wing, Mr. Malfoy?" She asked.

He nodded, walking a bit further ahead towards the teacher. He was careful not to disrupt the "sleeping" Rose.

"Before you go, Mr. Malfoy." Professor McGonagall started. Scorpius looked at her, wondering what she had to say. "I grant you 50 points for your admirable actions." A small smile appeared on her old face as Scorpius left the bustle of people behind him.

"And Mr. Malfoy." He turned his head, slightly irritated by the teacher's constant interruptions. "Don't worry, she'll be fine." A bigger smile appeared on her face, which was rare for the old woman. She also hurried away.

Once Scorpius reached the Hospital Wing, he was greeted by the familiar face of Madame Pomfrey. He had been a frequent visitor to the Hospital Wing because of Quidditch accidents and him and the old nurse got along quite well, though he didn't particularly favor her usual soup or bitter medicines. She was getting old, but her healing skills were just the same, if not better, in greatness.

"I've been expecting you, Mr. Malfoy. Put her down on the first bed on her right." She said simply. She was always prepared for visitors, this was no surprise.

Scorpius put down the girl gently onto the bed that Madame Pomfrey had mentioned. He carefully pulled up the sheets and the blanket over the girl. He kissed her forehead one last time, just as her "boyfriend" would do. A seat appeared next to the bed and he sat down in it, staring at the girl, as if afraid she would disappear. He was still in his Quidditch robes and he had a few scratches here and there, but he still stayed despite it all.

Madame Pomfrey came into the room again, carrying two cups. She walked over to the bed and bent down and tucked the covers around Rose a bit tightly. She put the cups down on the stand next to the bed. She turned to Scorpius. "I heard of your heroic deeds, Mr. Malfoy. Congratulations."

Scorpius nodded and gestured towards the cups. "What are they?"

One of the cups held something that looked suspiciously like pumpkin juice but the other had a rather dark colored liquid. It looked odd.

"You may give them both to Ms. Weasley when she wakes up. The first one is tonic for headaches. It's relatively bitter and nasty, so I brought a cup of pumpkin juice as well to get rid of the horrid taste." She said before bustling away from the two of them.

Scorpius sat there and thought for a second to clear his mind.

Scorpius smirked. As corny and tacky as it sounded: Though Lorcan had caught the snitch, Scorpius had caught the girl.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thank you guys for your support! I really love how I'm getting so many "favorite story"s and story alerts, but I am a bit disappointed about the number of reviews. It's fine, though! I don't want to pressure you guys to write a review if you don't want. I hope you guys enjoy the story and if you want, write a review or something! They're always appreciated. Next chapter will hopefully be up in 1-2 days. If I get stuck, 3.


	7. sleeping beauty

Scorpius sat in the chair, looking over his Muggle Studies book. Though he was a Malfoy and a Slytherin, he was fascinated by Muggle things. He loved reading about the different sort of things that Muggles did. He loved Muggle London and hoped to go there over the Christmas holiday with his parents. They had gone when Scorpius was younger, but he wished to see it again.

He peeked over from the corner of his eyes, distracting himself from his book. He looked over at Rose, who still lay on the hospital bed beside him. There was no change. He sighed and once again returned to his book.

He had sat there for a while now, ever since classes were over. It had already been two days, but the girl had not awaken from her slumber. She was still unconscious, though she was probably completely fine. Scorpius had been buy her side, never wavering except for meals, showers, and classes. It was partially because he wanted to look like a good "boyfriend", and the other.. he was not so sure of, he just didn't want to leave her alone.

He was not uncomfortable, however. He had easily transfigured the hard, wooden chair next to the hospital bed into a comfy, leather, one-seat couch. It was a simple black color, but it somehow fit Scorpius's image perfectly, and Scorpius loved anything that fit his image.

When he wasn't studying or reading, Scorpius entertained himself by listening to Rose's sleep-talk. It was a rather nasty habit, but Rose couldn't help it. She would constantly mutter things under her breath during her slumber. She despised it very much, but Scorpius found it absolutely hilarious. He also entertained himself by this muggle toy Albus had given him. It was a cube shape with many different colors. Albus called it a "Rubix Cube".

He remembered Albus's exact words while giving him the cube. "Scor, can you try to solve this for me? Rose's grandmother on her mum's side gave this ruddy toy to me. I think it's called a Rubix Cube or something. I honestly don't understand how muggles think of these games. They're just so complicated and confusing, or maybe I'm just dumb. Do you think I'm dense, Scor?"

If Scorpius had answered Albus's question with complete honestly, he would've said yes. He had to admit, Albus Potter was not the brightest person in the world, at all. He did amazingly well in subjects like Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, but that was it. The other subjects that actually required more brain power confused his friend more than anything. During those classes like Arithmancy, Albus had a face that looked like he'd been confunded. Albus's intelligence level was, if anything, average, but more like a bit below.

But the thing in this particular situation was that the toy that had confused Albus so much, was also puzzling Scorpius Malfoy. It was annoying him to no extent. What bothered him most about it, though, was that Albus had told Scorpius that Rose had solved it before, all in less than one minute. The fact irritated him. It motivated Scorpius to try exceedingly hard to finish the puzzle. Honestly, how could such a simple, colorful square be so damn difficult?

He, then, closed his book and put it down on a white stand beside his chair and the bed. He noticed Rose stir in her sleep and turn a bit. He looked over at her, raising an eyebrow, suspicious. Her auburn curls were spread out across the white pillow, a few covering her face, which still looked a bit sick. He sighed and bent over slightly. He hesitated a little before bending down all the way toward her ear.

He played with one of her curls before speaking. "Come on love, you should wake up soon." He softly kissed the curl he had been playing with and then bent back again, to straighten out his back.

She didn't stir, at all. She didn't even move a centimeter. He sighed as he bent back down, choosing a completely different tactic to wake the girl up. His true self sprung out of his civilized shell. It was rather relieving.

"Oh come on, Weasley, I know you girls call it your "beauty" sleep but no amount of rest or slumber will ever mend that hideous face of yours. It's too horrid. I don't particularly wish for you to wake up. Without you around, it's peaceful and I don't have to act like a whipped bloke anymore, but I can't do _all_ the Heads' work, can I?"

She suddenly turned her body. It caught him by surprise because in about a split second the girl's face was right in front of his. He was still leaning down so Rose's face was only a few millimeters away from his own. He held his breath. He could feel her soft breath on him, as well as a curl that now rested on his cheek. His gray eyes widened until he realized she was still asleep. The ocean-blue of her eyes was nowhere to be found.

He didn't move his face though, instead he leaned in even closer because he wanted to hear something Rose was mumbling in her sleep.

"murmer-murmer-murmer."

It sounded completely unintelligible.

He chuckled at her unconscious state. He didn't know why the girl's behavior was so amusing to him, but it was. In his opinion, there had hardly been anything more hilarious. Just watching her mumble random, incomprehensible things just made her seem completely different. It was so completely against her normal behavior, but still, it was Rose.

She continued to mumble many things, repeating what she said a few seconds before. "I-murmer-murmer."

He leaned even a bit more further to hear what she said. It rose his curiosity. He could practically feel her eyelashes on his face. He realized that Rose still had a few freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose. After the years had flown by, he didn't notice her freckles. This was a new discovery for him.

He wondered what the girl was dreaming about. She always seemed to say things that happened in all her dreams. In the past dreams, she had mumbled several things, such as: "Shut up, you arse", "I need to study.", "Chocolate", and countless other things that were much too predictable. His personal favorite was when Rose had said, "Bastard Lorcan". That had, of course, made his day complete.

He moved a little so that instead, his ear would be closer to her, so that he could comprehend what she would say. He listened carefully as she repeated the words one more time.

"_I love you_."

He instantaneously shot back up. His eyes grew into the size of quaffles. He was slightly resembling a deer got in headlights from those muggle transportation systems- cars? I think it was?

He didn't understand why it affected him so much; it just caught him by complete and utter surprise. He didn't know why it would possibly spark up his curiosity. He was even ready to ask a sleeping girl who in the bloody world she was talking about when he was interrupted.

"IS SHE BETTER SCOR? DID SHE WAKE UP?"

"DID SHE? DID SHE? DID SHE?"

Scorpius felled himself jump a little in his seat. His best friends were much too UNpredictable, unlike their cousin.

"IF YOU TWO _EVER_ DO THAT AGAIN, I WILL CURSE YOU INTO OBLIVION!" Scorpius said, rising out of his seat to make his glare look even more threatening than it already was.

"Sorry, mate." Albus said sheepishly. He slipped past Scorpius and sat in his seat. This bothered the blonde a bit, considering it was one of his pet peeves when other people touched things that belonged to him. He shrugged it off though. He looked towards his other friend, instead, who looked at Scorpius with his bright blue eyes. Louis Weasley looked like he was wondering something. It was the sort of look you get when you can't decide whether or not you should say something.

"You know, sometimes, you act exactly like Rose." Louis said slyly.

Some people would disagree, but Louis was _made_ for Slytherin. Though some, like Rose, did not see this little fact, it didn't make it any less true. Louis was clever and sly. His smirks could surpass even Scorpius's. He was also very ambitious, his future already planned out as he wanted it.

Scorpius just stared at Louis. He was originally going to fire some rough insult about Rose back at Louis, but he gulped it back down his throat. It would be a violation to the agreement. It was against the terms and conditions. He just shot a sort of are-you-crazy? look at Louis, who just smirked slightly.

Scorpius instead distracted himself by slightly straightening out his jeans. They were much too wrinkled for his liking. He gave himself a mental note to cast an ironing spell on them soon. He hated wrinkled things. He brushed a few dust particles on his navy blue sweater, it was a bit too Ravenclaw for most Slytherins, but Scorpius liked it. He also fixed the color of his white shirt. He enjoyed looking neat.

He excused himself from the room, saying a few, quick farewells to his friends. He walked to get a bit of a breather. He had rarely left the room, so this behavior was a bit strange, but Louis and Albus didn't particularly care all that much. Albus listened to Scorpius's footsteps until they disappeared down the hall. He exchanged a look with Louis as he suddenly bent down towards his cousin.

"Rosie-kins! You have to wake up soon! Honestly, someone has to help me with all my notes and tests and my horrible essays! Our mental professors are loading us with more work than usual; it's absolutely disgusting. I would ask Louis but he said no, and I'm too afraid to ask Scor, he's too defensive about his work. You're defensive too but you usual let me because I'm family. I'm begging you, cous." Albus pleaded at her bedside. He looked side to side, looking to see if Scorpius was anywhere. He didn't seem to want to get caught about what he was going to say next. "Plus, I think Scor really likes you."

The truth is, my dear readers, is that Rose was actually awake ever since Albus had run to Scorpius, yelling his head off. She was just listening to them secretly, not wanting to interrupt. It was a great source of entertainment.

Louis gave a huge eye roll at Albus's first statement, but agreed with the second. He also bend down towards his cousin. "It's true, cousin. I've never seen Scorpius care so much. I bet you ten galleons that he wouldn't stay this long in this bloody wing for me if I was unconscious." Rose held back a smile, she felt slightly special, though she didn't particularly know why. It was his fake care, but it was still care in a way.

Rose then started to pretend to wake up. She fluttered her eyes open softly and yawned. She stretched out her arms slowly and twisted and turned in her bed. She rubbed her eyes with her hands and yawned one last time for dramatic effect. She looked towards Albus and Louis. "Al, Lou, you came!"

She gave them both a hug as they basically tackled her.

She leaned back in the pillow. She then looked around at her surroundings. The hospital wing looked the same as always, though it was a bit blurry. Her eyes were still adjusting to being open after two whole days. The sheets and blankets around her were crumbled and messy as her hair was much more knotted than usual. She groaned a bit and turned back towards her cousins.

"I've missed you, Rosie!" Albus said, giving her yet another one of his hugs.

Rose was tempted to say, _Me? Or my brain?,_but she didn't because Albus did not know she was awake for that. Instead, she smiled and nodded. She sunk back into her pillow and realized that the beds were a lot more comfortable than they were credited for.

"You know, Scorpius never left your side." Louis commented.

She smirked a bit, but tried to hide it. She always felt guilty for not telling Louis or Albus about the agreement, but telling them would mean the end of it all. As bad as it was, she wasn't ready to end it yet, Lorcan was still after her, and she liked not having to deal with the uncivilized arguments between her and Malfoy.

"Really?" She asked, attempting to sound interested.

"Yes, you just missed him."

She frowned and ran her fingers down her long hair, trying to get a couple of knots out. This ended up in failure. She felt the desperate need to take a shower. She felt absolutely dirty and disgusting. Plus, hair tangling up around her fingers was never a good sign.

"I need a shower."

She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

Albus chuckled and helped Rose off her bed. She stumbled a bit for she wasn't used to having to support herself on the ground, but she managed. Her head hurt, though.

"Wait, you have to take this, it's tonic for headaches." Louis said. He smiled. It almost seemed like he was reading her mind. "And here's pumpkin juice, because it might taste bad."

Rose took the first cup full of a rather dark liquid. She held her nose to stop the taste for completely overtaking her. She gulped it down, but could still feel the bitterness of the medicine. She quickly grabbed the second cup and sipped it down.

"I hate being sick."

"WELCOME BACK, ROSIE!" Albus yelled on the top of his lungs.

"Shut up."

"Madame Pomfrey said you could go once you got up. Albus'll help you to your dorm. I have to go to the Library and get started on my Potions essay." Louis said.

Albus nodded and helped Rose up to the Heads' dorm.

She walked into the familiar common room after saying goodbye to her cousin. She smiled as she looked around the room. Though she was unconscious for the stay, she still missed her dorm. It's similar to the muggle saying that her grandmother on her mom's side said, "There's no place like home."

She quickly walked into her room, noting that everything was as it should be. She then stepped into the bathroom which joined the boy and girl's head dorms. She headed towards the shower. She slipped out of her clothes and grabbed a towel from a drawer, just to be ready and placed it by the shower curtain. She stepped into the shower.

She matched the temperature to one that she would be comfortable in and let the refreshing water surround her. She gently put shampoo and conditioner into her hair and eventually used body wash to wash her body. She felt much cleaner. She ran her fingers through her hair once more, feeling much better than before. It felt so relaxing to be out of the horrid wing. It was comfortable hospital wing, she had to admit, but it wasn't her favorite place whatsoever.

After about twenty minutes in the shower she stepped out of the very comfortable, welcoming warmth of the shower and dried herself. She shivered as the sudden change in temperature enveloped her. She covered herself in a towel and used a smaller towel to dry her hair. She suddenly heard the click of the door. She widened her eyes in panic as she whipped her head around.

"BLOODY HELL"

"WHAT'RE YOU DOING MALFOY?"

"WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?"

"I'M ASKING THE QUESTIONS HERE! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT BLOODY WALKED IN ON ME!"

They quickly both looked away from each other. Rose, however, had seen the slight pink rush up to Scorpius's cheeks. Scorpius bit his lip slightly as he turned away from the girl.

"Are you blushing, Malfoy?" Rose asked. She loved teasing him. A playful smile grew onto her lips.

"Oh, who would be blushing at the sight of you, Weasley?" Scorpius said, obviously trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Is that uncivilized talk Malfoy?" She said smirking. "That's against the conditions."

Rose slipped out a slight laugh at the boy.

He scowled. He then suddenly composed himself and put a calm expression on his face. There was now no evidence of a blush on his face. He took the cold door handle in his hands to leave the washroom. On the way out, he swiftly turned around and said in a low voice ever. "Welcome back, love."

Rose was the one pink this time. She cursed her horrible Weasley traits as she angrily left the bathroom. She walked into her own room once more to get some fresh clothes on her. She felt herself become even more furious by the second.

"The nerve of that bastard. That complete ARSE. The bloody idiot. THAT GIT."

That was of course followed by many more angry groans and insults and curses.

Scorpius, however was listening to her many insults towards him. He was sitting outside the door, leaning his back on the wood of the door. He felt rather entertained and held back his laughter

I admit as the author, that her reactions were quite funny actually.

He eventually sunk down to the floor and sat on the hard floor. He wondered, just the slightest, how much he'd actually missed. He convinced himself that it was only because she was an entertaining plaything, but the simple truth of it all was that he had truly, completely missed her. She had been right next to him, but it seemed different now that she was actually awake and conscious of everything she did.

While Scorpius was outside her door, Rose was still quite flustered. She was dragging her wet hair when she was thinking about how much she might've missed. It was only two days but that was 48 hours and many hours of classes. That was a lot of time to make up. What would she do without notes for classes? What would she do?

She bit her bottom lip slightly, contemplating about what to do. She crinkled her nose a bit, thinking about all the notes she probably missed, especially in Astronomy. She would have to borrow someone else's. She hated doing that, considering no one's notes were ever completely able to meet her standards. Besides, no offense to her friends and family, but their notes were never the best, except for Louis. The thing was, though, Louis didn't take Astronomy. Albus did, but he was hopeless.

She put the brush down and ran her fingers through her wet hair to spread the strands out. She quickly cast a drying spell and walked out the door.

By this time, Scorpius had left the doorstep. He felt a bit strange just sitting outside someone's door without them being aware of it. He had gone up and left to see Louis for a quick Quidditch practice.

In his place, however, Rose Weasley found something else.

She easily recognized the messy handwriting. She could tell he had tried much harder this time around though, considering she'd seen his usual notes and they weren't very legible. These notes weren't as neat as hers but they were just as thorough, maybe even a bit more thorough. She glanced through the different pages and saw all the different subjects labelled and couldn't help but smile. On the last page was a note.

"_To: Sleeping Beauty_

_Here're the notes you were probably panicking over just a few seconds ago._

_You're just so predictable, love._

_You won't have to return them, by the way._

_I made these copies especially for you._

_They may not be as perfect as yours but I tried._

_From: the "bastard", "arse", "idiot", "git" Scorpius Malfoy_"


	8. ignoring failure

Rose bit her lip as she walked towards her next, wondering what to do. Only forty-eight hours had passed since her release from the hospital wing, and she had already caught up on her studies. This was due to a certain person's notes, of course. The only problem she currently had was the fact that she hadn't yet mustered up the courage to express her gratitude towards Scorpius. She was thankful, but saying "thank you" to Scorpius Malfoy was like Voldemort coming back alive - absolutely horrid.

Other than the fact that Scorpius had been a complete arse to her for the past seven years, she wasn't the type of person to usually accept favors. She was rather the one to give the favors. She wasn't used to saying thank you as well, but she did when she had to. She was completely against rude behavior, so it was bothering her immensely that she wasn't able to say a simple "thanks" to the boy.

"Hey, Red, you okay?"

Rose smiled a bit from the voice and turned her head to face herself towards her friend. Mira Longbottom had been her friend since birth. Their friends had been particularly close, so they had grown up together. They were both ecstatic when they had been placed in Gryffindor together, where their own fathers had been.

Mira had called Rose Red because of she said that Rose sounded a lot like the word "rouge" in French, which meant red. (She learned this little fact from Dominique.) Then again, Rose had amused herself with the fact that Rose sounded a lot more similar to the word "rose" in French, which means pink. She didn't mention this to Mira, though. She would hate being called "Pink". She didn't really like the colour, might as well the name of the colour.

Mira was not at all like her father. Though her father was a professor, Mira was a bit of a trouble maker. Her mischievous smiles and hazel eyes always seemed like there were a few tricks behind them. Her brown hair came up to the bottom of her chin, curling up a bit at the ends. She had a big, bubbly personality that made her rather popular among the students.

Mira was always able to figure out when Rose had a little problem. It wasn't particularly difficult, however. Rose was always crinkling her nose when she was frustrated.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rose said, covering up her struggling face.

Mira rolled her eyes. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

"Red, you always finger your wand when you lie."

"I am NOT lying. And I do not touch my wand when I lie." Rose said sternly, turning slightly away from her friend.

Mira pulled Rose's arm slightly, causing Rose to face her. She looked at Rose with a knowing look on her face. "Red, you ALWAYS keep your wand in the left pocket of your robes because you want to be able to reach it quickly and because you're one of the only left-handed people in our school. Whenever you lie, you always put your hand in that particular pocket. It's just what you do. Don't deny it." Mira squinted her eyes slightly at her friend.

Mira leaned down a bit because she was a bit taller than Rose and pulled Rose's hand out of the left pocket of her robes. She pulled out a wooden object from the pocket as well. It was an eleven and one-quarter inch yew wand. In it's core was a griffin heartstring. It lay carefully on Mira's palm.

Rose took a lot of pride in her wand and always kept it safe and protected. She had heard a story of her father breaking his wand once and it scared her out of her wits. She could never do that to her own wand. She felt uncomfortable without it and quickly removed it from Mira's possession and placed it back into her left pocket.

"You're just too predictable, Red."

Rose frowned. She had heard that one too many times, especially from a certain Slytherin.

She would have to face him soon, much to her disappointment. She had been attempting to ignore the blonde for as long as possible, avoiding him in classes and hallways. This had spread a few rumors around the school, but nothing to fret about. She hadn't spoken to him or seen him for a long time. Her plan had been working flawlessly, but a Heads' meeting was inevitable. It wasn't to happen any time soon, though. She knew that a thank you was a proper action for the current predicament, but it was much too embarrassing.

"Red, you're turning red"

Mira suddenly laughed by herself, noticing her comment. "That sounded weird."

"You find the most outrageous things fun-"

Rose didn't have the opportunity to finish her sentence because she felt a tug at her elbow. She felt herself be pulled by the arm towards the one person she was trying not to meet up with. She groaned inwardly, not wanting to act suspiciously in front of her friend, who didn't know about her little plan.

"Sorry, Longbottom, I have to borrow "Red" for a bit of time. Head's work, you see?" He said smoothly, using a rather charming voice.

Mira bit her lip. No matter how much she didn't like Scorpius's personality at times, she couldn't say no. She nodded furiously and shot a small wink towards Rose. She flashed a small wave and sauntered off towards her next class.

Rose was contemplating on whether or not to turn around and shout "save me" towards her friend, but decided against it. It would sound much too dramatic and cause even more rumors to flood the hallways of Hogwarts. She did NOT want that happening; she already had her fair share of rumors due to the boy. She instead squeezed her eyes shut and walked along with him, eventually sliding away from his grip.

She still followed him, but always staying at least one meter behind Scorpius.

She continued to walk straight, looking down at her shoes for a bit. She was just wearing a pair of plain, black flats. She was wondering how small her feet were when she felt herself hit something.

"You know, love, you should pay attention to where you go. You never know if you'll run into someone or not." Scorpius said, leaning down a bit. His face was a bit closer than Rose would've liked but she didn't complain at the moment.

Rose decided to get over with it and muttered a small thank you. It was incomprehensible, however. Rose had grumbled it so quietly that she could hardly hear it herself. Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "What? I didn't catch that. After being unconscious for two days and ignoring your savior for another two, you've gone completely mental."

Rose shot a nasty glare at Scorpius. "I have NOT been ignoring you and I am NOT mental."

"Yes, you have." Scorpius said, a smirk evident on his face.

She turned away sharply, accidentally hitting him a bit with her curls. She didn't really care, though. She folded her arms across her chest. "Let's just get this over with, then. What was the Heads' business you were talking on about?"

"Oh, there is none."

Rose just stood there, trying to comprehend his words. She crinkled her eyebrows with confusion until she turned around again to face Scorpius. She cocked her head to the side. "So, you lied?"

Scorpius shook his head. "No."

Rose blinked a few times. She was more confused than before. She went over their conversation a few times in her head, trying to check if she missed something. She wasn't usually the type to not understand something. This was odd. Was he playing mind games with her? She looked over, a perplexed look on her face.

Scorpius snuck a look at her face and chuckled slightly. He decided to explain. "I don't like the word, "lie". It just sounds much too uncivil. I was merely twisting the truth. It's different."

Rose stared at the boy. "And you called ME mental?"

Scorpius walked closer to her, closing the distance between them. "Meaning - You are head girl and I am head boy and this is _our_ business, so technically, this is Heads' business.

Rose opened her mouth to shoot something back, but his explanation was clear. She suddenly realized that Scorpius's face was only a few centimeters away from hers. She saw his smirk develop on his face once again. His gray eyes seemed to taunt her furiously as they looked down at her with an amused tint in their corners. Rose couldn't help but turn a shade of red from frustration.

"So, we're cutting class?" Rose asked with a blanket of disbelief on her voice.

"Calm down, love. It's not as if we'll get into loads of trouble. We ARE Heads, you do realize?"

"But I can't just skip class. I haven't been to class for so long and I have things to make-"

She felt herself being interrupted for the second time that day. She felt a familiar warmth of a hand on her mouth. She tried to talk once more, but was continuously blocked with the hand that was now fully clasped around her mouth. The mocking laughter of Scorpius rung in her ears as she started to turn irritated.

"All the things you could possibly need are in the notes I made for you."

Rose was still not letting go of the situation. She was a rather stubborn person anyway. She stomped on his feet, hard, signaling to the boy that she would very much appreciate to be able to speak once more.

"You know, love, you're not at all that threatening. That didn't even hurt. You're a bit pathetic without that smart mouth of yours."

Scorpius suddenly felt something wet on his hand.

"SICK! Weasley, how dare you _lick_ my hand! That's just completely foul and disgusting, not to mention unhygienic." Scorpius wiped his hand on his robes as he shot a dirty look at the girl.

"Shut up, you arse! I only did that because I couldn't breathe properly. Oh, and at least I have the decency to use my tongue for necessary situations unlike you, who usually sticks it into random girls' mouths!"

"It's called breathing through your nose, Weasley. Maybe you should try it something. And also, I haven't been sticking my tongue into anybody's mouth since the beginning of our little agreement!"

"It still counts!"

They were both pretty much out of breath from yelling at each other. They were out of practice. That's when they both realized something.

"I do believe that was a violation of the agreement, Malfoy." Rose said, a smile appearing on her face.

"You deserved it, it doesn't count. Plus, I saved your life."

"Don't pull that crap, Malfoy."

"You would be dead without me, Weasley, literally."

Rose let out a sigh and rubbed the temples of her head with her fingers. She was beginning to get a headache. She was really not used to the yelling and fighting. They hadn't done it for a while and it was taking a lot of energy out of her.

"Oh and by the way..."

"What now, Weasley?"

Scorpius seemed equally as put out as he looked towards Rose once more.

"You should really people finish their sentences."

Rose took a deep breath and let it out, causing the anger to disappear from her system. She once again placed her fingers inside her left pocket, lightly touching the familiar wood of her wand with the tips of her fingers. It was not for lying this time, however; it was more for comfort. She raised her head a bit to look at the boy.

"Thanks for saving my life and thanks for writing those notes." She said softly.

He raised his eyebrows as he tried to hide the surprise on his face. He nodded, acknowledging the 'thank you's.

_That git. How hard is it to say a "you're welcome"._

She stood their, trapped in her own thoughts when she felt a sudden tingling on her feelings. She felt familiar fingers lace around her own. She looked up in surprise when she realized she was once again being dragged towards somewhere in the castle. She was pulled through a few hallways until she realized she was standing in front of a statue. It was a bit of an ugly statue, so she wondered why she was being taken to that particular place.

"What're we doing here, Malfoy." She shot.

"Let's go back to being civil, love." Scorpius said softly as he took out his own wand.

He tapped the statue and whispered the word "_Dissendium"_. The hump on the back of the statue opened. It revealed something like a secret passageway. Though the passage looked rather gloomy and scary, it sparked Rose's inner curiosity. She saw the small gray walls of the narrow way and got on her tiptoes to stick her head inside, expecting to see something. All she saw was more black space. She wondered where it led.

"What is it?"

"This is the one-eyed witch passageway. It opens up a hidden passageway to Hogsmeade."

Rose knew this was a bad idea and she was usually completely against going against the rules, but her curiosity got the best of her. "Where in Hogsmeade?"

"Honeyduke's."

Scorpius watched as Rose's face lit up with excitement. Rose felt a giddy feeling overcome her.

"Let's go." Scorpius said while climbing into the passageway.

"Wait, isn't this illegal?"

Scorpius held out a hand. "Come on, love. Live a little."

Rose pursed her lips together but couldn't help but take the hand. Scorpius helped her into the passageway and soon, they were both in the passageway.

"Hey, Malfoy?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you figure out where this is?"

"You know about the Marauder's Map, right?"

"Yeah."

"James got it from his dad and gave Al and I a few pointers. Louis refused to participate though."

Rose nodded, giving herself a mental note that Louis was to be trusted with responsibilities, while Albus should not.

The rest of the way remained in silence. This was both good and bad. Though it wasn't dark anymore because Rose had conjured a couple of bluebell flames, it was still really awkward. It was an uncomfortable silence. The good in the situation, though, was the fact that they were no longer bickering and yelling at each other.

Once they reached the end, Scorpius pulled the stone cover of the passage way and pushed it carefully out of the way, not wanting to make too much noise. He hoisted himself out of the way and onto the sturdy, stone floor of the cellar. He straightened out his clothes and then bent down a bit and held out his hand, noticing Rose struggling to get up.

Rose was taken aback. It was one thing for Scorpius to help her _once_, but twice was rather unheard of.

"Come on, love, we don't have all day."

Rose stared at the hand, expecting it to disappear all together. She continued to stare until she looked up at Scorpius with an amazed expression. She watched as Scorpius shrugged and took the hand before Scorpius changed his mind. He helped her up onto the floor. It was an unusual experience.

Rose headed towards the stairs until she stopped abruptly. "Won't we get caught if we just walk up randomly."

Rose suddenly noticed a cloak in Scorpius's hand. "I borrowed it from Albus."

_Of course_. Rose just nodded as she felt herself become covered with the silky material. She felt herself be tugged closer to Scorpius in order for both of them to fit under the cloak. He was warm, but she felt a bit stiff. His arm wrapped around her a bit, to ensure none of their bodies would show. Rose wrinkled her nose with dislike.

"I don't like this either, love." Scorpius whispered, his lips extremely close to her ear. It tickled her and she couldn't help but blush. She thanked God it was dark, or Scorpius would have yet another reason to tease her.

They both walked up the dark, stone steps of the cellar up to the store. They immediately felt the warmth of the store. A huge smile immediately crept up onto Rose's face as she looked around at the various, delectable treats around the room. She felt her eyes linger over the licorice wands and the sugar quills. She was so tempted to go up to them and buy them, but she knew she couldn't. They couldn't get caught or else, her position as a Head could be threatened, and she would never let such a horrid thing happen.

"Do you love sweets that much?" Scorpius whispered to her.

Rose nodded. "Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, but let's just leave this store. We have to get to a much less suspicious place to be able to remove this stupid cloak. We'll be stuck here all day if we don't because of you're huge obsession."

Rose whispered a 'fine' and they left the store. Rose turned around to see one last look at the store, mouthing a goodbye to one of her most favorite places in the world.

They found a bit of a secluded corner and they walked over and took off their cloak. They looked around a bit, looking to see if anyone was looking at them suspiciously or even a bit strangely. They weren't so Rose walked a bit more down the road, enjoying the freedom. She walked further away from Scorpius, realizing no one was really paying attention to them. Hogsmeade was a rather busy place and no one would really notice two teenagers who were ditching classes.

She didn't realize the stones on the ground and she was a clumsy person, anyways. Her right foot collided with one of the rocks and she felt herself falling forward until a strong arm caught her by the waist. She turned around. She was face to face with Scorpius Malfoy. This seemed to be a very popular situation between them, much to Rose's annoyance.

Rose turned slightly pink.

"Fallen for me, have you, love?" Scorpius asked. He held back a small laugh as he watched Rose's face contort into a look of mixed embarrassment, frustration, and disgust.

She instantly pulled away from his grasp and walked briskly away from him, her pace two times faster than it had been before. She suddenly halted and turned around, a blush still able to be seen on her cheeks.

"In your dreams, Malfoy."

Rose heard fast steps behind her own. Scorpius easily caught up to her. He cornered her onto a nearby wall. He didn't allow escape. Her back was up against the wall, trapping her. His hands were on both sides of her face. Though she wouldn't admit it, his warm hands felt a bit nice on her cold face. One hand stroked one of her curls delicately. He leaned down a bit, matching his eye level with hers. He bent down a bit, his lips next to her ear. Their cheeks touched slightly as he whispered in her ear, "Not even in my nightmares, love."

Scorpius felt the blood rush up to Rose's cheeks and chuckled softly. He slowly pulled away from her, as if reluctant to let her go. He released her from his hold and started to walk away. He heard a small voice behind him.

"Do you enjoy teasing me?" Rose said, only loud enough for him to hear.

Without turning around, he answered. "Yes. Your reactions are priceless, love."

He walked a couple of steps more down the road. He didn't hear the usual steps behind him, so he couldn't help but look behind him. She was where he had left her. Her cheeks no longer had the rosy tint on them, but were back to their usual fair color. Her auburn curls blew in the wind, a few flying a bit into her face. His eyes lingered a bit more on her blue eyes. Though they were glaring furiously at him, they still seemed so calm. He was mesmerized for a few seconds, but composed himself very easily. He looked at her as he called back towards her direction.

"Hurry up, love."

Rose was furious, but she wasn't at the same time. The anger burning in her was subsiding so easily that it was frustrating her. She felt a few sudden thumps in her heart. She could almost hear her heartbeat. It was an absolutely sickly, disgusting sound to her. She knew exactly who her heart was beating for. She just simply wouldn't, no couldn't, allow it.

_Never._


	9. snowflakes

Rose felt the creaking of the stairs beneath her feet. From someone who was unfamiliar with the place, they would have hesitated to step on the stairs. They looked rather unstable, a few loose boards here and there. They were, however, sturdy enough to support most people, unless you were on the extremely heavy side of the human population.

"The Shrieking Shack, what an appropriate place for a romantic outing." She remarked.

The sarcasm hung heavily on her voice. She loved using sarcasm; it was one of her most favorite things to do. Scorpius also loved sarcasm. This was one of the only things she felt she had the same as Scorpius.

"This place is actually absolutely symbolic. The history behind it is fascinating. The magic in it seems to be very powerful, as well. You don't even know what amazing events could have taken place right here, where we're standing. Plus, the structure is interesting."

Rose shot a look at Scorpius, analyzing his words. She couldn't tell if the boy was being serious or not, which was quite frustrating to her. She wasn't used to not being able to understand something, even if it was something as trivial as this. She liked knowing things, she always did.

"Malfoy, I do worry for your tastes in housing and moreover, your sanity."

"But look how absolutely grand it is, love." He said, a small smirk appearing at the corner of his mouth, but not yet taking over his mouth.

He walked closer to her and placed an arm lightly around her shoulders. He pulled her closer to him with a simple movement, making Rose feel a mixture of confusion and frustration. Rose took one of her hands and placed on the hand that was around her shoulder. She picked it up and threw it off.

"I think you should just cup the crap, Malfoy." She shot icily. She was getting tired of having to pretend they were together. It wasn't particularly uncomfortable, but rather, hard to handle.

"Whether you like it or not, we _are_ still a couple, you do realize?"

She looked over at him, wondering what he was thinking. His face gave nothing away, which was hardly a surprise.

She sighed. "It's an agreement, not a real commitment. Also, let's just not be reminded of our little "relationship" or what ever it is under ANY circumstance. Can we just not mention it and move on?"

A very awkward silence hung over them. After a minute or two, they both looked towards each other, wondering if any words could be shared between them. Instead, Scorpius started to laugh. It was one of the first honest laughs Rose had heard from the Slytherin boy. Despite her dislike towards the boy, she had to admit it was pleasant sounding.

Rose couldn't help but crack a smile as the boy finished his laughter.

"Sorry, you just looked rather lost. It was interesting. Who would have ever thought that the _oh so smart _Rose Weasley could ever look lost." Scorpius smirked.

This particular incident would be added to the fact that Scorpius had a completely different image of her than most people.

"Oh, Malfoy, I was just wondering, but how do you suppose we go back?" She asked, her head cocking to one side, trying to figure it out herself.

"We just walk back."

Rose stared at him. Scorpius had stated the answer so calmly and simply. It was so strange that such an irrational, unreasonable explanation could be put so lightly, with no intent of sarcasm in his face. Rose continued to look at him, trying to comprehend the situation. She just couldn't understand how they could possibly just walk back into the school if they snuck out in the first place. He confused her. All his replies had always left her absolutely puzzled.

She preferred to listen to much more logical statements.

"And how do you suppose we do that?"

"Well, my dear Rose, it's pretty simple. As long as we go back to school after classes are over and before dinner begins, it doesn't matter. We _are_ allowed out, you do realize, between those times. So in the end, we don't need to sneak around back to school."

Scorpius shot her a i-can't-believe-you-couldn't-figure-that-out look. Rose twitched.

Rose processed his words in her head. This was true, no matter how insane it was. She hesitated and tried to think of reasons to contradict his thinking.

"Bu-"

She felt a soft pressure of something against her lips. His finger was a lot warmer than she thought it would be. "Oh, hush, love. We both know I'm right. I thought you to be smart, Rose, but I suppose I was wrong."

Rose didn't particularly appreciate being interrupted. It was one of her biggest pet peeves. The fact that someone would stop her from talking – _the nerve_! She was partly used to it, no matter how much she hated it. Albus Potter was a frequent interrupter of words.

Rose had practically memorized her frequent speech. "Don't interrupt me, Albus Severus Potter. It shows absolute lack of politeness, civility, graciousness, courtesy, and above all, respect. It also severs the other person's pride and dignity which is, of course, highly valued. SO, stop being such a impertinent, insolent git and listen to me!"

Rose opened her mouth to give Scorpius the exact same speech, when she realized Scorpius's eyes fixed exactly on her. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, fidgeting from one foot to the other. She despised being stared at, even if it wasn't for bad reasons.

She stared right back at him, bringing her head up to match her eyes with his. "What are you staring at, Malfoy?"

Scorpius kept his mouth shut, just glancing away from Rose. His jaw tightened slightly as he looked down at his watch.

"It's time to go." He said under his breath.

Rose could see wispy white breaths come from his mouth. She also took a breath to see the misty white cloud-like things come from her own mouth. It was pretty chilly in the shrieking shack, despite it being indoors. The shack itself was also very old and worn out. A few holes were scattered around the walls of the building and the whole structure altogether was rather broken down. The bitter wind from outside it's walls managed to wrap itself around the two of them.

They began to exit the shrieking shack with a tense air filling the space between them. They had hated each other, but they had never felt awkward. They had always just been, well, enemies, who never lost something -_insult_- to say to each other. It was just different this time.

Rose snuck a look at Scorpius, peeking up at him from the corner of her eyes. His expression was hard to read, however, due to his navy, blue scarf. It was covering half of his face.

Rose suddenly felt a sudden cold on her cheek, then on her nose. She looked up, watching a small, white flake fall from the sky. It was snowing.

"It's SNOWING!" Rose screamed. A smile grew rapidly on her face.

Scorpius Malfoy would've never believed you if you said that he would one day see Rose Weasley _squeal_. Miracles actually do happen.

"Malfoy, LOOK!" Rose said, pointing to various flakes that fell from the white sky.

It was a rather rare sight, though it wasn't because of the snow. It was mid-December so snow was predictable. People were expecting it. It was Rose's pure enthusiasm, excitement, and joy that was the rare sight, especially when it was in front of a Malfoy.

She ran around in circles along the pathway, catching a few snowflakes on her tongue. Her mind didn't give a second thought as she twirled around with the wind, her hair flying along with her. Her laughter filled the air as she continued to enjoy the snow.

Scorpius just stood there, watching her. It was strange. Plus, he didn't particularly enjoy or even like the snow.

"Do you like the snow _that_ much?" He asked, hiding his amusement.

"Maybe." She said, sticking out her tongue. It was soon to be replaced by a big smile, then a smirk. "You don't seem to be enjoying the snow though, Malfoy." She hinted.

"I don't like the snow." He said simply.

Rose stopped in her tracks and turned her head towards the boy. A look of disbelief crossed her face as she stared at the boy. "Why not?"

"It's too cold and delicate. It just melts away in an instant. Plus, it's like a frozen copy of rain." He said as he kicked some of the snow that was already beginning to pile up on the ground.

Rose crinkled her nose and looked back up at him. She somehow understood that there may have been some hidden meaning to his answer, but she thought nothing of it. "I'm thinking you like the rain, then, Malfoy?"

It was absolutely outrageous in Rose's eyes. Honestly, why would you like rain? And frankly, like rain more than snow? It just didn't seem to make sense in her brain.

Rose hated the rain more than anything. It always looked so grey and gloomy, dampening her mood wherever she went. Her spirits also became much lower when rain fell. In addition to that, the pattering sounds of the rain had always bothered her, distracting her from studying or reading and preventing her from falling asleep.

Scorpius pulled down his scarf from his face, so that it would no longer muffle his words.

"I love the rain." He said.

He had a somewhat far-away look in his eyes.

"Why?"

"I never really thought of the reason why." Scorpius shrugged.

Rose decided not to press the situation any further, accepting his vague answers. She walked a bit faster to catch up to him. They walked side-by-side.

She watched as he brought his navy scarf back up to his lips. She wondered if it was because his face was feeling cold or if it was because he no longer wanted to speak. She waved away the thought and turned towards him.

"Let's get going a bit quickly before rumors start to spread. They're irritating enough already."

She quickened her step until she was a bit ahead of him. She then turned around with a smile on her face. "Come on, Scorpius!"

Scorpius couldn't help but smile at the sound of his first name. He silently thanked his scarf for being there when it was. He took a few long strides to catch up to Rose. As both of them walked back towards the castle, they made the first few footprints on the newly fallen snow.

-A few hours later-

"So, Rosie, I head you disappeared after class with a certain Scorpius Malfoy."

Albus Potter wore a thick smirk on his face as he looked across the table at his cousin. It was rather rare for him to be in the Library, but he couldn't wait to tease his favorite cousin.

"It's not what you think. Plus, where in the world did you even hear that?"

Rose rolled her eyes at her ignorant cousin.

"I heard it from a certain Mira Longbottom who didn't tell anyone but me, so don't worry."

Rose put a mental note to remind Mira never to tell her cousin anything.

"You know, it's quite irritating how you keep putting the word certain in front of peoples' first and last names. And also, the fact that she told you IS the part that's worrying me."

Albus frowned and put his face down on the table, only to stand slightly and lean across the table. He turned his face to face Rose's directly. He widened his green eyes and stared at her for about five seconds before she finally broke the contact.

"YOU LOSE! NOW YOU HAVETA TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!" He shouted. He did a slight fist-pump in the air as if he had won a Quidditch match.

"I'm not gonna be a part of one of your stupid, immature games, Al. Oh, and just to let you know. In case you haven't noticed, this is a LIBRARY. You're supposed to be quiet in LIBRARIES."

"Oh, come on, Rosie. It's not like anyone else is in here." Albus slouched back into his chair. "Even the librarian ditched this place." He said, motioning towards the Librarian's desk.

Sure enough, it was empty. Not only was the desk empty, but the library was. It was pretty disheartening that the students's level of education had lowered so much.

"It was nothing, Albus, just let it go." She said, waving him off.

Rose stacked all her books on top of each other, creating a few mountain piles of books. She quickly pulled out her wand from her pocket and cast a spell to put the books back into their correct shelves. She only kept one book for some light reading, though it wasn't a book Albus would consider light. Then again, Albus didn't usually read. Anything would be heavy forhim.

Rose took the book in her hand, flipping through a few of the pages. She walked away from the table and walked towards the door. She looked back, only to find Albus folllowing her.

"You know, you sort of resemble a stalker at the moment."

"This is the only exit out of here, cousin."

Rose shrugged. "Still, it's strange."

She suddenly heard another voice from across the hallway. "Hey, Rosie, Albuss!"

She whipped her head around to see Louis walking towards them.

They waited for him to catch up.

"So, Rosie, I heard you disappeared after class with a certain Scorpius Malfoy."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Not you, too."

She left them both standing there as she walked towards her dorm. The familiar route seemed a bit longer than usual. Perhaps it was because her pace was slow or maybe it was because she somehow felt like she shouldn't go there. It was like an instinct.

If only she had listened to her instincts. Then maybe the events that will soon unfold wouldn't have occured.

She muttered the password under her breath: _Caphonius_. She had liked the metamorphagus password, but Scorpius had felt that it was much too difficult to remember. Rose had questioned his intelligence at that point, but agreed to change it. Instead of metamorphagus, Scorpius had just made up any random word that popped into his head and decided that that would be the password. It was a rather strange day.

She walked through the familiar door way and into the commonroom with no other thought.

She automatically wished she didn't.

In the room was Scorpius Malfoy but he was't alone. The two of them were lying rather comfortably on her favorite olive green couch.

_Arse._


	10. don't understand

She just stared for a second, trying to blur out the sight before her, but she soon realized it was impossible for her. No tears streamed down her cheek, which was a plus, but there was just nothing going through her mind. She just glared at the two of them, realizing she wasn't even able to look away from the horrid sight before her.

She stood right in her tracks, until they looked over.

The two finally realized her presence at the door. Suddenly, getting up in a haste. Miranda Wilcox (the fifth year from ch 1) got off of Scorpius. Even though she was fully clothed, she had a few loose buttons on her shirt. She quickly buttoned them up, tidying herself up as much as she possibly could.

Miranda finally acknowledged Rose's presence after fixing herself up, biting the edge of her lip slightly as she looked over at her from the corner of her eye. It was rather sickening to see her acting as if she was completely innocent.

She held back a desire to gag at Miranda's disturbing performance as the girl who had nothing to do with what had just occurred on her favorite couch.

She felt a pang of pain hitting her insides. She didn't show it though, keeping her expression completely emotionless. She swallowed the wad of tears down her throat and pretended to ignore their existence as she walked around them to her room. She didn't know why it hurt so much. It just didn't make any sort of sense whatsoever.

She felt irritated, upset, annoyed, attacked, stabbed, cheated, and just hurt. She didn't know why. Shouldn't she feel happy that it had been Scorpius that violated the agreement first? Shouldn't she be happy she finally had a reason to leave the filthy git and never have anything to do with him again? Shouldn't she just feel pretty damn good? So why didn't she?

She hit her head with the palm of her hand as she stepped inside the sanctity of her room. She took a deep breath.

After Rose closed the door behind her, she leaned back onto the sturdy wood of it. She slid down, feeling the bumpy edges of the door rub against her back. She sighed as she leaned her ear against the door, feeling the rough wood against her cheek. She listened to what was happening outside. She heard the shuffling of feet and the closing of a door and assumed it was Miranda taking her leave. Scorpius let out a big sigh and slowly walked towards his own room. He didn't even bother stopping by her door and leaving a simple explanation as to what was going on.

Did he not feel anything at all? Was he always that heartless monster that now stood in the room next to her own?

She bit her tongue to stop herself from yelling at him right then and there. Wasn't it bad enough that he had just snogged the face off a girl right in front of her, completely scarring her for life? Did he have to do it on her favorite olive green couch, defiling for the rest of her Hogwart's life? And did he have to ignore her the one time she wanted to hear him talk and explain himself?

She really liked that couch.

She felt a pang of frustration and disappointment, not only towards him but also towards herself. How could she possibly be so ignorant enough to think that Scorpius Malfoy could change, even in the slightest bit? Thinking that people like him could turn out differently was just a waste of thought. People just couldn't change, could they? Or perhaps people could. Maybe it was just that Scorpius had not felt the desire to.

That's when she realized that she felt a sudden wetness on her cheeks. She brought a hand to her cheek, feeling her once dry cheek being stained with tears. She felt hot, salty water droplets slide down her face, eventually falling off her chin. She shook slightly. She didn't know why she was crying, especially because of someone like that.

The feeling was such a new experience for her. She had cried before, of course. What girl hasn't? She had even cried when Lorcan cheated on her, but it was different. Back then, it seemed more of an obligation then just pure emotion. This time, she felt as if she had no choice. She had unwillingly begun to shed tears.

She wiped away the tears as they come out. There were too many, however, causing her to eventually give up and get up off the floor. She walked towards a nearby mirror, looking at her reflection on it's shining surface.

She looked the same: the same auburn hair, almost invisible freckles, fair skin, small stature, and dark blue eyes. The only thing different was the fact that the blue eyes no longer had a bright white surrounding them. They were slightly red and tears tainted her face. She sighed.

She fell back onto her bed, giving another big sigh. She pulled her face into a pillow, feeling the last of her long line of tears leave her and going onto the pillow. Her eyes were finally relieved of the burden of carrying them.

She wiped off a few more tears with a finger. She looked in the reflection again, blinking several times making sure that there were no traces of her crying. The redness was almost gone.

She sat back down on her bed, breathing heavily. Then, she heard the click of the door opening. She swallowed.

"Rose?"

The voice sounded so innocent, gentle, and misleading. She automatically knew who it was.

"Arse."

It was short, simple, but not so sweet. In Rose's opinion, it was the most perfect and fitting word to describe the oh-so-famous Scorpius Malfoy. This, along with Git, Prick, Bastard and many other names that she was able to conjure up in her rather intelligent little head, were some of the best names for Scorpius. Perhaps his father had misnamed him.

"Oh, come on. It's not like you don't understand why I did it."

But that was exactly it, she didn't understand. That's what made everything so damn frustrating. She just didn't understand, and she was not very used to not being able to understand things. She was half Granger after all.

"Well, excuse me for believing for just a moment or two that maybe you lost your absolutely annoying player-behavior."

"I don't understand why you're so angry with me."

Once again, Rose didn't understand either. She felt her eyebrows knit together. She just didn't understand what was going on inside her head. The only thing she did understand was the fact that she did have reasons for her anger. It's not like she was angry for no complete reason at all.

From any other girl's point of view, she had a completely good reason to hate the boy in front of her. The only problem was, they didn't know it was just an agreement between him and her in the first place.

"You're right. I should be absolutely ecstatic that you violated the terms and conditions. Now, I get the happiness of breaking up with you myself."

It was true. She should've been happy, but why did she sound so sarcastic. At that moment if these were normal circumstances, she should have been mocking him, teasing him about being the one to lose. But she wasn't happy, and she definitely wasn't ecstatic.

"It's not like I slept with her."

She clenched her teeth as she watched his perfectly-shaped face not being bothered at all at what he just said. She was almost tempted to say _It's not like you wouldn't have if I didn't walk in._

"Malfoy, you're so full of shit."

Rose was too angry to notice Scorpius's jaw tighten, something he usually did when he was frustrated or mad at himself.

"It's not like we were genuinely in a relationship, Weasley. It was just a stupid agreement. It was just something for entertainment purposes. It was something called having fun, something you seem to not know how to do."

Rose didn't know why, but that just didn't matter to her anymore. Her anger went from mild to absolutely passionately burning. She felt a stab of pain slice through her as she finally let her emotions take control.

It happened so much quicker than she could keep up with.

She walked up slowly.

She shot him a very nasty glare.

She hit him with as much strength as she could muster (and that was a lot).

She walked away.

Before she passed the doorway,however, she hesitated slightly as Scorpius turned towards her.

"Come on, love."

His soft voice almost sounded sincere. She stopped in her tracks. She suddenly felt a strong desire to turn around and let him speak what he wanted to speak. She didn't, however, because Rose Weasley is a very stubborn person, as anyone would know.

Instead, she refused to even turn around, only choking out the only words she could think of

"I'm not your love."

She didn't know how wrong those words were.

* * *

_Guys, I'm so sorry for never updating._

_I don't know what to say._

_It's just that, I hit a big slump where I just didn't know how to write._

_Plus, once I started really getting into school, it just piled up on me. I hardly slept, I was stressed out, I got sick often, and I just had a very HUGE wall in my life that took a while to climb over._

_I know there's no excuse that will actually make you guys forgive me, but please don't blame it on the story. If you guys really wanna keep reading, please keep reading! Don't stop reading Epic just because the author is a sucky person who fails at writing and updating._

_Hopefully, I'll do better now._

_No update will take as long as the one this time._

_If an update does take long, just check once in a while because I want you guys to keep loving this story (even if you don't like me for not updating)._

_This story may take a while to finish because it's so complicated and I'm the type that writes once an idea comes along. I don't plan everything._

_As some of you may know, this story was actually from a while ago (don't worry, it's my story, i'm not stealing it). It's like "remade" because my old account got hacked and it wouldn't work on my computer and stuff. Plus, I improved the writing by quite a lot. Now, the storyline of this one is basically already caught up to the old one, so it'll be hard for me to think of ideas._

_If you guys wanna help, write a review of what you wanna see in this story or just send me an inbox. I probably won't use your exact idea, but other people's ideas just inspire me. If any of your idea's inspire me, don't worry, I'll credit you (:_

_Thank you._

_I love you guys._

_-sincerelydear_


End file.
